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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN ARE OUR TEACHERS. 



,535 

THE FUNERAL SERMON 

OF 

i 

ELDER DAVID M. WILSON, 

THE USEFUL LAYMAN AND UNASSUMING BENEFACTOR OF WASHINGTON CITY; 

DELIVERED IN THE 

WESTERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

MARCH 9, 1856, 
BY THE PASTOR, REV. T. N. HASKELL ; 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 

THE FUNERAL ADDRESS, 

BY REV. B: V SUNDERLAND, D. D., 

Delivered on the Burial Day, March 1, 1856. 




THOMAS McGILL, PRINTER. 

1856. 



3X^ 2,0,5' 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Washington, March 81, 1856. 

Dear Sir : The undersigned having "been appointed, at a meeting of the con- 
gregation of the Western Presbyterian Church held on the 16th instant, a com- 
mittee to communicate to you their desire to have published your obituary 
sermon on their late beloved brother and elder, Mr. David M. Wilson, and to 
make the necessary arrangements for printing the same on the most favorable 
terms, as the avails are to be given to the bereaved widow of the departed one — • 
in the discharge of this duty, we take this method of making known the wishes 
of the congregation, and to respectfully request your compliance therewith as 
early as, with convenience to yourself, you can prepare the work for the press, 
with a short appendix, which we suggest might accompany it. 

In our opinion, such a work would prove a gratification to a large circle of 
friends which this excellent man could number in our community, not confined 
to sect or party, as illustrating a good practical example of a self-denying, 
zealous, yet inoffensive Christian, and, we may add, would be personally grati- 
fying to each of us. 

With many assurances of respect and regard, we remain your obedient 
servants, 

WM. T. STEIGER, 
THOS. F. HARKNESS, 
S. L. LEWIS, 

Committee. 

Rev. Thos. N. Haskell, 

Pastor of the Western Presby terian Church, Washington, D. C. 



Washington, April 4, 1856. 

Gentlemen : Your letter of March 81st is before me ; and with this reply you 
will receive the manuscript copy of the sermon for which you ask. Although 
the discourse was not intended for the press, I do not find it in my heart to 
withhold the facts which it contains from the public, especially not against the 
expressed wish of my people. Instead of the appendix, which you suggest, I find it 
as congenial to my feelings, and less likely to disappoint any public anticipation 
that a more extended memoir will some time be written, to preface the sermon 
with the touching address delivered on the day of burial by Rev. Dr. Sunderland. 

Hoping that the statements which you give to the public by publishing this 
sermon may be found generally correct and become highly useful, and that the 
tribute so spontaneously paid to the memory of one whom I venerated and loved 
may be more than justified by the verdict of a grateful community, I have the 
honor of subscribing myself your servant in the Christian ministry, 

T. N. HASKELL. 

Messrs. W. T. Steiger, T. F. Harkness, and S. L. Lewis, 

Committee of Western Presbyterian Church and Congregation. 



FUNERAL ADDRESS. 



BY REV. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D. D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



Again — and it is yet again that we come to the burial of a standard- 
bearer in Israel. Oh ! how inscrutable are the ways of God ! My dear 
brother in the Lord, my dear friends of this flock of Christ, my dear 
friends of the family so suddenly bereaved — what shall I say ? My 
own soul, bowed in sorrow four times during my brief pastorate in 
Washington at the loss of an Elder, this day can enter into your grief. 
Our father was all humanly speaking to us in the relations he sus- 
tained — the only Elder of this infant Church ; a counsellor of the min- 
istry, and a friend of the poor ; a lover of Christ and his cause ; a man 
of prayer and faith and all good works. He seemed a host in himself. 
But God has taken him — so long useful, so long honored, in labors 
abundant, in watchings continual — in prayers and tears and blessings. 
It is our loss : it is the loss of your Pastor, of this church, of all the 
churches — yea, and of the city itself. That benevolent organization of 
which he was so much the expression, the functionary — they, too, have 
lost a strong man. Many a poor creature that needed help, and words 
of comfort, and light, and hope, and all heavenly things, has lost a 
friend indeed. 

I cannot speak it as it is — but he loved to do good. It was his meat 
and drink to do the will of the great Master. Long years ago he had 
given up all selfish secular pursuits. His very life was to do good to 
others. You all know it. It is written on the tablets of many hearts. 
I hope your Pastor will write it in a book, and send it down to many 
generations. Let the surviving colporteurs have it — at once an illus- 
tration, proof, and impulse of their sublime mission to the needy. Oh, 
how he nursed and tended all the germs of this Church, away back 
there years ago, when he could not see what God had in reserve, and 
the way was dark. Before some of us ever came on this ground, he 
was here surveying, like Abraham of old, the promised land, and pitch- 
ing the tent and rearing the altar where prayer went up. Would he 
might have lived to see the temple finished and filled with the glory of 
God, then to have said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 



6 



But God, who sees all things, knows best. The workmen cease, but 
the work shall go on. And he knew it all. He was submissive to the 
divine word — like Moses, content to die in sight of Canaan, and be 
sepulchered where and as God should appoint. An aged man, venerable 
among all the children, ripe in the experience of divine things, with a 
foretaste of heaven ever in his heart; no sacrifice too great, no labor 
too severe, to follow in the path of duty, the knowledge of which came 
to him so direct and clear from the communion with God — he did 
verily walk with God all the day. He was a practical Christian, and 
had no time for anything but devotion to Jesus. And when the time 
came, he laid him down. He was ready to be offered — delightful views 
of Christ and heaven about him like radiant clouds gilding the sunset, 
and care for the dear Church to the last. "Tell them/' said he, "to 
think more of the realities of eternity and when he said it he was 
all suffused with those realities. Heaven was no idle dream, nor his 
own hope in Jesus. 

" While on his breast I lean my head, 
And breathe my life out sweetly there." 

This he could say, ay, and felt to his inmost soul. Death had no ter- 
rors for such a man. He had long been ready for it, and his work was 
done every night, that if the Master called before the cock-crowing, he 
might be ready with his account, and say, delighted, "Here, Lord, 
am I." Oh! how he loved the sanctuary — the praises of Zion, and all 
there is in her courts — " the communion sweet and dear esteem" of God's 
people. I have seen him when his heart glowed, and he said, " This 
is the house of God, and the gate of heaven." Asleep in Jesus now ! — 
he rests from his labors, and his works do follow him. It was a life 
by faith ; and by it, being dead, he yet speaketh, and so will speak in 
the latest history of the Churches of Washington. 

Probably no man ever lived or died in this city who is so linked with * 
all christian memories and all works of self-sacrificing charity as Elder 
David M. Wilson. If there be such, I have not known it. He was 
everywhere, where good was to be done. His argument for the Chris- 
tian faith was one life-long service. He acted ever as though all was 
true and unquestionable that God had said. He never doubted it. His 
spirit was that of Paul the Apostle — a strong apostolic spirit was always 
about him. He rejoiced in the kingdom of Christ, and heard that it 
extended, with sincere gratitude and delight. On this account, and 
because he was every where doing good, we shall miss the man — that 
aged form, spending its last remaining strength for Jesus. No place 
will be without some association of his name, and many shall call him 



7 



blessed. Blessed now, indeed, for he has departed to be with Christ. 
The strait he was in, God's providence has solved at last. We can say 
nothing against it, though we weep. He was destined now to a nobler 
ministry, and his post is vacant. In looking round, we ask, Where is 
he on whose shoulders the mantle will descend? Who will be our 
Elder Wilson now ? Who will look after the poor as he did ? Who 
will scatter the bread of life among all the hungering people as he did ? 
And when we try to answer, it is looking up — "Thou God only 
knowest !" Oh ! how often we are driven to God only : and it is right. 
We ought to lean on the immortal arm, for only He, the Head over all, 
can help and succor us. Let us not despond under this blow : it is for 
the trial of our faith. God will send the form of the Fourth to be with 
us in this furnace of affliction. God will say to his people, Now your 
strong man is gone, lean on me ! — look up whence he and all my ser- 
vants derived their help. It is a mysterious but it is a still gracious 
economy. Let us trust it. And as we carry the sacred ashes of our 
venerated father to the grave, let us feel that we plant there in the 
fresh mould of consecrated ground a noble seed, that will spring up 
gloriously in the morning of the resurrection. And oh ! may God this 
day warm our hearts by the spirit of sanctified memories which yet 
linger and will ever linger hereabouts, of the beloved and now glorified 
Elder who lives in heaven. 

My brethren and friends, I am come here almost from a sick bed, 
and from the recollection of similar scenes in my own Church, to con- 
dole with you. I am not the one to speak of that whole history, now 
closed up for eternity. There are others here who will do justice to 
the life and worth of the departed man of God. To them I leave this 
work : to God I commend you. 



ELDER D. M. WILSON, 



SERMON. 



" Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; for the end of that man is 
peace." " He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, 
even they both are an abomination unto the Lord." Ps. xxxvii, 37; Prov. 
xvii, 15. 

We have assembled to-day to cherish the memory of a departed 
Christian ; to mark his progress toward heaven ; to behold him in his 
uprightness, as he lived among us; and to consider his end, which is 
peace. What an object to behold and mark carefully — a superior ex- 
ample, a rare experience, a Christian man ! 

There are many instructive analogies in nature : there is much 
wisdom in the progressive arts; but there is a sublime climax in Chris- 
tian character. To mark the features of an extended landscape — to 
behold its valleys, verdant with the hues of spring, or its woods and 
uplands golden with the tints of autumn sunset; to scan the lofty gran- 
deur of a mountain, as it wears the clouds burnished with lightnings 
for a breastplate and eternal ice-cliffs for a helmet — to behold nature 
in any of its beauty and sublimity, is profitable employment for the 
spirit of man. It often lifts the soul to nature's God, and subdues it 
before His majesty. To look at the secondary works of God, invented 
by the human mind, and trace the lineaments of skill drawn out in 
minute and intricate machines; or to stand before the more stupendous 
works of art, and behold them rising in their proportions, true to 
man, to God, and nature — this is also beneficial to the mind and heart. 
It speaks at once of man, of God, and providence. It points to the 
genius of the architect; and he falls back upon previous discoveries, 
and upon Deity. 

All material excellencies of art or nature are, however, meaningless 
without mind to apprehend them, as well as to originate them. A 
rational being is, therefore, superior to all material objects; and we 
mark the outlines and the exertions of a towering intellect with instinct- 
ive interest. Rising still above the intellectual, stands the moral, 
basking in eternal sunlight; and higher than the stature of ordinary 
virtue, stands, last and best, the Christ-like — the recovering image of 
the Godhead. More instructive than the landscape, more majestic than 



10 



cloud-capt mountains, more noble than any work of art, is a human 
being with a soul in him — with the Spirit of God upon him. Man is, 
on earth, the noblest work of God; 

" The Christian is the highest style of man;" 

and our deceased brother was a very superior Christian. Thus we 
have rising up before us for our consideration to-day one of the noblest 
objects which we could behold — a life of self-denying labor for the sal- 
vation of men ; a symmetrical, guileless, Christian character, developed, 
sanctified before us in a world of duty, discipline, and death. " Mark 
the perfect man, and behold the upright;" condemn not the righteous, 
nor call any iniquity just; but in the fear of the Lord, with careful, 
honest discrimination, let us consider the man of God who is no more 
among us, " because God hath taken him." 

With the strict equity of estimate which my text enjoins, let us 
mark — 

I. The man as he lived — " an upright, perfect man." 

II. Consider him as he died — "for the end of that man is peace." 

III. Observe the lessons taught by such a life and death; for they 
are our teachers. 

I. I am to give a sketch of Elder Wilson's life. 

It is a singular providence which has called a comparative stranger, 
who has known the deceased personally not quite two years, to rehearse 
to you the labors and incidents of a life of near sixty years, more than 
half of which has been spent in this city, and in affectionate intercourse 
with the most of my audience. The dispensation is to me, in this 
respect, a touching antithesis, and makes my service at once a difficult, 
melancholy, and pleasing task, from which, under the circumstances, it 
were wrong for me to retreat. 

My first knowledge of the deceased was in April of 1854. One day, 
when passing an hour at the Crystal Palace, New York, an elder from 
one of the largest churches in that city met me; and having heard of 
my invitation to this Church enterprise in Washington, desired to 
inform me that Washington was his spiritual birthplace; that he first 
united with a Church of Christ in this city; and that there was an 
elder in that Church who was instrumental in his conversion. This 
fact interested me deeply. I inquired concerning the faithful layman 
with minuteness. The standing in this community, the talent, habits, 
manner, and spirit of the man, were all subjects of inquiry, and were 
faithfully and, in most respects, accurately described. He spoke dis- 



11 



paragingly of him only in the following statement : Said lie, " If that 
man is to be associated with you in the work of planting a new Church, 
he will break you down before you have become acclimated, for his zeal 
in evangelizing Washington knows no bounds." I had heard of public 
men and pastors here, had even seen doctors of divinity from the Fed- 
eral City, but I had seen nor heard anything which seemed so much 
like a morning ray of destiny as that brief allifsion to the man who has 
been to me, the past year, the dearest friend of my sex. I came to 
your city the 10th of May following, visited these grounds before sun- 
rise the next day, learned from some source the vicinity of the small 
edifice where the germs of this Church began in a prayer-meeting con- 
ducted by the deceased, and met him for the first time during that day. 
Our personal acquaintance began then, and though very brief, it has 
been very intimate : had it been less affectionate, my testimony con- 
cerning him might be less partial, but not more sincere. I believe him 
to have been a remarkable Christian — I know him to have been a 
righteous man. My testimony must be almost unqualifiedly in his 
favor. Let those only condemn him who fear not God; for to condemn 
the righteous and to approve of wrong are both "abomination in the 
sight of the Lord." The brevity of our acquaintance renders it impos- 
sible for me to sketch the life of the deceased from memory. I have, 
therefore, gathered written and oral testimony as much as I was able 
during the past week, and have selected from the knowledge thus gained 
a few leading facts. The following sketch is but a brief abstract from 
the surprising amount of interesting material collected in so short a 
time. His life was graven on the hearts of a frank community, and, 
since his burial, those hearts have beaten freely, and disclosed in rich 
detail the records of that life — enough, almost, so soon, to fill a volume 
with, most thrilling incidents. 

The ancestors of David Morris Wilson came from Scotland in the 
early history of this country. For three generations back, the male 
members of the family have been men distinguished for piety, and have 
possessed large public confidence. His grandfather, Captain David 
Wilson, was a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary war, and died 
an elder of the Presbyterian Church in Snow Hill, Maryland. His 
uncle, Major Ephraim K. Wilson, was elected to various offices of 
public trust, and was, it is believed, ever faithful to the trusts confided 
to him. His father, Elder James Wilson, was for a long time previous 
to his death an officer and a shining light in the Presbyterian Church 
at Princess Ann. His mother was a watchful, praying woman — a 
mother in Israel; and in the line of ancestry we recognize " pious 
women not a few." While the words of the British statesman may 



12 



not be true in this country, that " they who never look back to their 
ancestors, will never look forward to their posterity," still, in all lands 
and ages, parental faithfulness is the richest legacy; and even the 
remembrance of an honored ancestry keeps many young men from sink- 
ing into permanent degradation: that, and the memory of maternal 
prayer and a family altar, are the rallying power of many who have 
temporarily fallen. This was true in the early history of the deceased. 
He owed much at different times to his regard for the paternal name — 
still more to his regard for parental piety. His parents and grand- 
parents were the noblest of repute in their vicinity, but, what was far 
better, they were among the beloved of God, and members of the house- 
hold of faith ; and he admired and appreciated the sentiment so often 
repeated : 

"My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned and rulers of the earth ; 
But higher far my proud pretensions rise — 
The son of parents passed into the skies." 

He was born January 13, 1798, in Somerset county, Eastern Shore, 
Maryland, and at an early age came to Georgetown as a hatter's ap- 
prentice. While there a youthful stranger, with no one near to care 
for his soul, one of the elders of the Bridge street Church became 
deeply interested in him ; and through his pious solicitude for him, the 
youth was brought into the fold of Christ, and became identified with 
the Church of which Rev. Dr. Balch was pastor. Mr. Wilson made 
his first profession of faith there, when about eighteen years of age. 
The following year, however, he removed to Maryland, received his 
material patrimony, became worldly, neglected his covenant vows, spent 
much time in sporting and the chase, grew fond of ruinous excitements, 
and was not a stranger to the social glass. He was in the full heat of 
youthful blood, fond of any stimulant to his large impulses ; and his 
young life flowed on with impetuosity, and gushed out at every oppor- 
tunity for exertion. He passed many months, and even a year or two, 
a devotee of the most exciting, and, for young men generally, the most 
dangerous amusements. He pursued these with that surprising ardor 
which ever constituted a vital element in his character. Often did he 
leave his bed while the stars were still visible to organize a fox hunt. 
He would collect his companions in the chase, and lead the pursuit of the 
luckless objects of his winged frenzy through marsh and field and forest, 
through storm and heat, through all the live-long day, nor " slacken his 
speed or abate his ardor" till the game was taken. He never knew how 
to pursue an object in vain, or to cease pursuit till the end was gained. 



18 



Many times he endangered his life by his unrivalled enthusiasm, and 
more than once barely escaped sudden death. One time, when riding 
at the greatest speed, his horse ran so near an inclined tree as to cleave 
from his back his rider, and throw him breathless to the ground with 
the greatest violence. At another, he came near being drowned when 
fording a river — his stubborn steed turning with the current, and re- 
fusing to set for the shore. Such narrow escapes from death were 
almost enough to awaken him from the wild revery in which he was 
dissolving the very chit of his manhood. Still life was too much a 
revery to allow even his dangers to appear real. This whole period is 
the dream-life chapter in his history. His dream, however, was reach- 
ing the climax where the sleeper awakes and cries, " Behold, it is a 
dream I" He had reached a point beyond which he dared not pass. 
He stood aloft : his brain was dizzy ! — beneath him in dismal silence 
yawned the abyss of ruin ! 

Oli ! when one stands upon some jutting, lofty ledge, 
And trembling leans his bust beyond the dizzy edge, 
And thoughts romantic, wild, in fierce succession creep 

Through his impetuous soul, and bid him leap 
Down on the broken rocks in the chaotic deep 
Below — how heavenly is the touch of unseen hands . 

Upon the wild, bewildered dreamer's arm, 
When timely caution, like a spirit's voice, commands, 
And speaking out in the terrific passion-storm, 
Says, "Peace! Be still!" and "Do thyself no harm!" 

Such was the hand of Providence and the preached word, when Mr. 
Wilson one Sabbath morning was induced to accompany the lady in 
whose family he boarded to the place of public worship. It was the 
communion day of a Methodist quarterly meeting. His companions, 
"dead in trespasses and sins," were numerous about him, and little 
expecting any manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit and the 
truth upon Mm. He did not anticipate it. He was then, though far 
from being openly immoral and profane, a man undaunted by the future, 
and unmoved by narrow escapes from death. He knew there was an 
eternity near him, but its realities stood in a maze before him, and 
seemed unreal. He knew the vows of God were upon him, but he was 
in the deepest sleep of indifference to the real solemnity and eternal 
force of those vows. A man of meagre natural and acquired abilities 
was occupying the pulpit 5 but the preacher, though neither genius nor 
scholar, was a Christian, and was made the wisdom and power of God, 
that the excellency and honor might be of God and not of man. From 
his lips, on that occasion, came the solemn appeals, " Turn ye ! turn 



14 



ye ! Why will ye die ?" " Awake, thou that sleepest, and call upon 
thy God !" These words were the Holy Spirit's voice, and uttered just 
in time. The young man, standing on the verge of perdition, heard 
the voice — 'twas meant for him — and turned to see who spake, and lo ! 
the son of God ! The emblems of his broken body and shed blood—- 
the memorials of his death — were on the table, and all the lovers of the 
Redeemer were invited to celebrate his sufferings. This was irresistible. 
The rescued man arose, knelt at the table, and celebrated the death of 
Him " whom he had pierced" — whom he had even " crucified afreslij 
and put to open shame." This seemed to some an impious act ; but it 
was the effort of a man to regain the shore when he has slept and floated 
too near the rapids — the God-inspired effort of the prodigal to "come 
to himself," and to " arise and go unto his father." This was the great 
epoch in Mr. Wilson's history, and deserves more prominence than can 
now be given it. Here began that indomitable " newness of life" which 
impelled him incessantly until we saw him lie down to die. His mind 
henceforth acted more intensely on divine things than it had ever before 
in his dream of vanities. His plighted vows are renewed; and instead 
of again sleeping in sin, or sitting at ease in Zion, he is now awake, and 
also at work. The restless ardor of the youth is now developed in the 
resistless energy of the man of God. His former impetuous life now 
flows on like a river, and his righteousness like the waves of the sea. 
His very presence throws a charm about the Christian name. He is 
c< clothed and in his right mind" — a man supremely devoted to the true 
end of his being ; and is now as energetic in the discharge of duty as 
he had before been in the strange feats of that moral somnambulism, 
the mad dream of earthly pleasure. Upon his own recovery, his interest 
in the conversion of others was immediate and intense; and such interest 
is seldom fruitless. 

In a few months the landlady of the public house where he boarded 
was converted through his influence in the family. Her sister, a lady 
now residing in this city, and whose cheerful piety administered com- 
fort to the suffering Prof. B. B. Edwards, when he journeyed south to 
die, was deeply impressed by his experience at that time, and after- 
wards converted in his own house. 

The ardor of his piety kindled the love of God afresh in many luke- 
warm hearts in his vicinity ; and his wicked companions beheld the 
change, but understood it not, and some inquired, "What does this 
mean ? That man is changed !" He was no more in pursuit of the 
beasts of the commons, but eager to catch men, and carry them in his 
arms of faith back to God and his favor. The man who once led his 
companions in the chase, is now eager to lead them to Calvary; and 



15 



the basest and most bigoted men have ever since that time acknowledged 

" The occupation dearest to his heart 
Was to encourage goodness ;" 

that he lived for others, not himself, and that he would rather suffer 
than do wrong. 

Near this time, in 1821, he was married, having chosen one to be 
his companion, until he should be separated from her by death, who 
could sympathize with him in his yearnings for human welfare, and 
bear with Christian fortitude domestic sacrifices for the cause of Christ 
— one whose natural sisters were his spiritual children, converted to 
G-od by his fidelity. A transparent man himself, he took other men at 
their word in matters of religion, and made his associates aware of the 
great burden of his heart. Men felt it impolitic to make to so true a 
man false professions of piety, for he looked so eagerly for fruits also, 
that, on further intercourse, their own consciences would convict them 
of " lying against the Holy G-host." From the memorable renewal of 
his covenant vows before described, he was deeply studious of ways and 
means to win men back to the path toward heaven. The expedients 
to which he would resort, as a private Christian, were often unique and 
interesting, and sometimes wonderfully effective. Being neither op- 
posed to what are called " new measures," nor particularly enthusiastic 
in their favor, he could work with any legitimate measure, old or new, 
which he thought God would own and honor; and then he would fall 
back for crowning efficiency upon preaching, prayer, example, personal 
effort. All whom he knew shared in his sympathy, and confided so 
implicitly in his motives that he could say with good effect what were 
unwise for some men to utter. In all his variety of personal and social 
effort, men knew he desired a single object — their salvation; and they 
felt that whatever he said or did was a sacrificial offering for their good. 
Thirsting intensely for conversions as a ruling passion, he still failed 
not to appreciate the necessities of Christian growth and ripeness for 
heaven. It might, therefore, be as truly said of him as of the great 
good man for whom the words were first written — ■ 

"He watched, and wept, and prayed for all ; 
And as a bird each fond endearment tries 
To tempt her new-fledged offspring to the skies, 
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way." 

The language of his example was like an earnest, full, and finished 
dialect, in which the distinguishing peculiarity is the verb of action — 
springing from a single term, and admitting of motion in a uniform 



16 



direction — upward. Heaven was the home of his aspirations, and desire 
to do good the secret of his untiling zeal as he pursued his pilgrimage. 
Though an unassuming man, he ever said, from the celerity and uni- 
formity of his motion, ''Come," not " Go." He was never outstripped 
in the chase — he could not be surpassed in his zeal to do good. His 
divine commission to be a leader in the works of piety was evinced 
before he left Maryland ; but his sphere of usefulness there was neces- 
sarily limited. God, in His wisdom, directed his thoughts towards a 
field adequate to the largeness of his heart and the full range of his 
philanthropy. In 1823, he removed with his family to "Washington. 
Here he entered at once upon the work for which nature and grace had 
fitted him. Soon after his settlement, he united with the Second Pres- 
byterian Church, and much endeared himself to the pastor, who was a 
man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and blest as the instrument of 
good in many revivals of religion. With such a pastor, brother Wilson 
could not fail to be familiar, and to such, from the very nature of the 
case, he and his memory were predestined to be dear. 

We find him, in 1824, associated with Christians in a great variety 
of religious and benevolent efforts for the moral improvement and tem- 
poral comfort of the masses. He was a leader in the Sabbath school of 
his own Church; he organized and sustained the first colored Sunday 
school in the city ; commenced and sustained weekly prayer-meetings 
among the neglected colored people, and in various destitute neighbor- 
hoods of the white population ; planted the germs and watered with his 
tears the growing vines of several Churches ; was interested and active 
in every department of city missions within his range ; was a superior 
collector for the Church, an excellent spiritual counsellor in the session, 
a remarkable devotee to early prayer. He knew God had said, " Blessed 
are ye that sow beside all waters;" so he sought to do good by all legit- 
imate means, and found the promised blessing always in his cup of joy. 
In all departments of effort he worked hard and well : from the first to 
last he was instant in season, out of season, faithful, self-sacrificing, even 
unto death. 

It is impossible to incorporate in this discourse the full chapter which 
should be recorded concerning each department of his labors just 
enumerated. Several spheres of usefulness must pass with the mere 
allusion to them. The full measure of his successes in them all, or 
indeed in any one of them, cannot be ascertained. The limits of the 
present sketch are adequate to only a fractional part of them. I will 
confine myself chiefly to those concerning which I have at present the 
most authentic facts, and these will illustrate his untiring zeal and 
fidelity in all. 



IT 



1. His worldly pursuits may not be made prominent, for they were 
never his idols ; nor should they he omitted, for they were subordinately 
sacred ; and he was never a man " slothful in business," but " his own 
hands ministered to his necessities." Being by trade a hatter, he 
labored as such for several years after his first settlement in Washington, 
exhibiting the three noble traits of the mechanic — honesty, industry, 
and frugality. His confinement at this work, and his exertions on the 
Sabbath, and times of night services, were undermining his constitution : 
the confinement of his trade especially was manifestly hastening the 
progress of pulmonary disease to which he was constitutionally predis- 
posed. His health became at length so precarious that he was induced 
to go to sea for his recovery. He went first on a voyage to Cuba, 
which proved so beneficial that he hoped by another of similar length 
he might wholly regain the health and vigor which he sought. Ac- 
cordingly he made arrangements to sail again, and repeat the painful 
absence of several months from his family and those religious associa- 
tions which were to him so dear. He was to sail from the port of New 
York on the morning of a given day ; his appointment to the office of 
assistant clerk of the vessel was already secured, and he was on hand 
at New York in due time to enter upon the duties of his office ; but by 
the fraud of the captain, who had just before met a nephew whom he 
wished to have the benefits of the appointment, Mr. Wilson was unable 
to procure access to his post in the true sphere of his commission. He 
was thus compelled to abandon his voyage or submit to a menial posi- 
tion, and spend the whole time of the expedition under the arbitrary 
-control of the man who dared, in the New York harbor, and in open 
day, perpetrate upon him an act of cruel robbery. Of course he chose 
to stay upon the land and trust to Providence, rather than submit him- 
self to the treacherous sea, under the command of a still more treach- 
erous captain. The vessel sailed without him. He stood upon the 
wharf, in feeble health, among strangers, wounded by cruel disappoint- 
ment and a sense of personal and unmerited injury inflicted on him 
without cause, and he saw the vessel shove off to sea, and her spread 
sails pass beneath the visible horizon — then he turned to ask, " What 
shall I do?" 

The Angel of the Covenant, who stood by Cornelius in his family 
worship, and spake to Ananias in the blindness of Saul, was evidently 
near him, saying, " G-o into such a street, and it shall be told thee what 
thou shalt do." He obeyed at least a providential suggestion, and soon 
met in the street a gentleman from Boston with whom he had held 
sweet intercourse in this city, who became immediately his benefactor. 
This coincident resulted in his establishment in a prominent, and, 
2 



18 



for several years, successful business on Pennsylvania avenue. He 
was immediately provided with a competency for his family, and the 
means of contributing liberally of time and money to benevolent objects, 
and even largely to the erection of the Church in which he worshipped, 
and for the ingathering of the congregation and support of the minister. 
In the mean time, intelligence came from that vessel in which he had 
hoped perfectly to recover his health. It had been visited with the 
severest scourge. The captain and his nephew and many of the crew 
died of yellow fever, and were buried in a foreign port. He had been 
excluded from such a fate by the rude hand of an ungodly wretch — nay, 
he had been held back from it in the hand of God his Father ; his life 
was spared ; his spheres of usefulness enlarged and multiplied ; he had 
suffered disappointment for the best results. He learned by that mo- 
mentary reversion of his prospects to confide more fully in an All-wise 
Providence, who shapes events so that all things work together for good 
to his people ; and that disappointment in a distant city, which led his 
steps in a new and nobler path, was in its results much like a later 
reversion in his financial prospects, which was really the transition to 
the brightest chapters of his life. During one of those terrible crises 
in which so many useful business men have failed in the history of this 
country, his financial affairs became embarrassed, and he gave all his 
carefully-acquired and hard-earned effects to secure his creditors as far 
as possible against loss. One who was immediately involved in his 
embarrassments, and who was very familiar with his business habits, 
bears this testimony : " He was a man rigidly honest to the last far- 
thing. In no instance did he resort to measures to extricate himself 
which were in the slightest degree of questionable honesty." 

The reputation of the Christian name and the sacredness of unqual- 
ified virtue were more dear to him, and stood more commanding before 
him, than " houses or lands, wife or children — yea, than his own life 
also." In adversity as well as prosperity he " shunned the very ap- 
pearance of evil." He appreciated the highest order of realities — that 
virtue which is above price, and that wise providence which unfolds the 
unerring pleasure of G-od. At this time his undoubted integrity was 
all the fortune he had left him, and this commended him to men in 
every rank of life and circumstances. On account of it, his friends had 
little difficulty in securing his appointment under President Jackson as 
captain of police at the Capitol. This office he held until the Presi- 
dency of Mr. Polk. Whether his deposition from an office which he 
had so long held, and dignified by his example and rendered important 
by his diligence, was right or not, is not a point for investigation now. 



19 



However, many in Washington can appreciate the murmuring inquiry 
of Coleridge when he says — 

" How seldom here an honest man inherits 
Honor or wealth with all his worth and pains ! 

It sounds like stories from the land of spirits 

If any man obtain that which he merits, 
Or any merit that which he obtains." 

Whether Mr. Wilson's successor was more deserving or not, it is 
certain that he gained a position which his predecessor had in part 
elevated to his aspirations, and had occupied so successfully that even 
a false witness could scarcely be suborned against him ; and he saw the 
deposed man left in a single hour with no money but the promissory 
notes of heaven, and no prospects but special providence. All these 
are like incidents too common to need our comment. 

Mr. Wilson was turned out of office. He took one of those condi- 
tional promissory notes, signed by the Cashier of the Universe, and 
read it. It was this : 

" In all thy ways acknowledge him, 
And He shall direct thy paths." 

He had seen this before — had often drawn upon it, and knew it good. 
It was enough for him. 

" He committed his way unto the Lord, 
And He directed his steps," 

And soon all doubts were removed. It was manifestly no longer the 
divine pleasure to retain him as the paid guardian of politicians, and a 
guide of strangers who throng the Capitol to test the lotteries of office 
or ambition, or to exclaim, "See what manner of stones and what 
buildings are here \" He was to carry from house to house what the 
Holy Ghost brought to earth from heaven — " the Word of God" — "the 
love of Christ." 

The indications of Providence at this time were as definite to him as 
was the Saviour's first visit to the poor fishermen of Galilee who were 
mending their tattered nets : they left their nets immediately, and fol- 
lowed the divine Being who had called them ; Tie followed immediately 
a new line of providences, and was never left without a providence to 
follow. His secular employments had long been a part of his religion, 
and he knew how to " worship at work j" but now a new order of ser- 
vice is assigned him : his employment is religion indeed : his work is 
to worship. From house to house he bears the " Word of God and 



20 



lifts the voice of prayer;" and as lie goes, men point to him, and say, 
" Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile !" 

2. " The Bible Society of Washington City" was at this time look- 
ing for a man of just his indomitable and consecrated energies, and he 
was disencumbered at the very time to serve them. While some men 
go mourning and murmuring all their days because they cannot find 
their sphere or rise to their imagined level, he, having committed his 
way to the Lord, found his sphere always prepared before him, and a 
providence standing ready to guide his steps into it. The executive 
committee of the Bible Society elected Mr. Wilson as their visiting 
agent, and notified him of his appointment on the 5 th of May, 1847, 
immediately subsequent to his deposition from office at the Capitol. The 
report of the executive committee, published May 29, informs that us 
he " immediately entered upon his duties as agent," and in three weeks 
had canvassed the entire 5th ward, having visited in that short time 
five hundred and seventy-three families, and found ninety-two destitute 
of any portion of the sacred Scriptures. Of these destitute families four- 
teen refused to receive any portion of the Bible, and seventy-eight pur- 
chased or received gratuitously Bibles or New Testaments. Of the ninety- 
two destitute families, forty-four declared themselves in the habit of at- 
tending some place of public worship, and forty-eight not accustomed to 
meet with worshipping assemblies anywhere. One hundred children of 
suitable, age to attend Sabbath school were found, whose parents ac- 
knowledged they were not attending any such schools. He kept a 
journal exhibiting the names and precise residences of all the destitute 
families visited 3 the number of persons in each family; the number of 
readers in each; and the denomination and color; the apparent neglect 
of the intellectual and moral training of the children, and many other 
memoranda relating to the general domestic morals of the city. To be 
successful in this work, required a thorough, prudent, and deeply pious 
man. Such a person, even strangers, and those little acquainted with 
human nature, took the indefatigable Bible agent to be at the first in- 
terview; and the success which attended his first month's labor, were a 
suitable preface to the many months of unsurpassed usefulness which 
he afterward spent in the service of the society. It was not practicable 
for this association, whose sphere was in a measure limited, to employ 
such a man permanently, for a long series of years ; but when his use- 
fulness was not augmented by engagements for other kindred societies, 
his services were eagerly sought by the Bible Society, and as cheerfully 
and efficiently rendered at appropriate intervals, until the last year of 
his life. 

I find in a column of the public prints dated December 24, 1852, the 



21 



following testimonial : " The Bible Society of this city has in employ 
as general agent Mr. David M. Wilson, long, generally, and most 
favorably known throughout this city. He has completed the explora- 
tion of the first ward ; where, among one thousand one hundred and 
sixty-eight families and places of business visited, he found one hun- 
dred and four families destitute of any portion of the sacred Scriptures, 
all of which, except fourteen that refused, were supplied by sale or gift. 
He also found in these families one hundred and forty-two children of 
suitable age not attending any Sabbath schools. The heads of about 
one-half of the destitute families professed to attend regularly some 
place of public worship ; the others generally confessed that they did 
not, or but very seldom if ever attend. The Bibles and Testaments 
distributed were received with apparently real desire to possess them, 
and with promises faithfully to use them. A number of interesting 
incidents resulting from his former supply of the same ward have been 
met with by the agent, showing that the good seed then sown had 
yielded blessed fruit, rejoicing and cheering him in his work. He has 
commenced the exploration and supply of the second ward, and the 
managers of the society bespeak for him, in his benevolent mission to 
do good and to communicate, the kind reception and generous support 
of all whom he may visit. They feel called upon to acknowledge the 
general spirit of liberality manifested in their contributions by the citi- 
zens of the first ward. The work now in progress is evidently necessary 
and proper; and though the compensation paid to the agent is small, 
yet enlarged contributions are necessary to purchase the great number 
of Bibles and Testaments required ; while the surplus, if any, is imme- 
diately transmitted to the parent society for the general supply." This 
introduces us at once to a series of reports in the handwriting of the 
agent himself, which describe, ward by ward, his second exploration of 
the entire city. The results of his labors in the first ward are stated 
in the quotation just given. In the second ward he visited one thou- 
sand two hundred and thirty-three families and places of business. Of 
these one hundred and three were found destitute ; seventeen refused 
to receive on any terms [all but one Roman Catholics.] The number 
of children not attending any Sabbath school were one hundred and 
thirty-nine ; the parents of seventy-two of these promised to send them 
to some place of Sabbath instruction soon ; seventy-nine heads of the 
destitute families can read intelligibly the Bibles furnished them ; 
thirty-six said they attended public worship on the Sabbath, and sixty- 
seven acknowledged they did not. 

In the third ward the number of families and places of business vis- 
ited was one thousand one hundred and sixty-eight. Of these he found 



22 

one hundred and nine destitute of any part of the Bible ; and twenty- 
six, all Roman Catholics but two, who called themselves " G-erman 
Rationalists," refused to receive copies on any terms. Ninety children 
were found not connected with any Sunday school, and the attendance 
of forty-eight of them was promised. Of the destitute families forty- 
nine said they were attendants at the house of God on the Sabbath, and 
sixty declared they were not. In the families supplied there were one 
hundred intelligent readers. 

In the fourth ward he visited one thousand six hundred and seventy 
families and places of business, and found one hundred and ninety-seven 
destitute ; sixty-eight, all Romanists, refused to receive the Bible even 
as a present. Seventy-four of the destitute were accustomed to attend 
public worship, and one hundred and fifty-four could read. In that 
ward he found one hundred and twenty-nine children not attending 
Sunday school. The parents of seventy-one of them gave assurances 
that they should attend, and the parents of fifty-eight would make no 
promise concerning theni. 

The families and places of business visited in the fifth ward numbered 
one thousand and fifty. In these were one hundred and fourteen des- 
titute of the Scriptures, thirty-one of whom, all Roman Catholics, 
refused to receive on any terms. In the families supplied, one hundred 
and thirty-two persons could read the inspired word left with .them. 
Sixty-four of the destitute families said they did not attend church, 
and forty of them reported general attendance on the Sabbath. Ninety- 
four children were found in that ward not attending upon religious 
instruction even on the Sabbath, and the parents of forty-nine of these 
gave assurance that they should subsequently be sent to Sunday schools. 

In canvassing the sixth ward, he visited eight hundred and forty 
families and places of business; found sixty-nine destitute; seven re- 
fused to receive on any terms. Among those supplied were eighty-four 
readers, and in the ward were eighty-one children of proper age who 
did not attend Sabbath schools, concerning the subsequent attendance 
of forty of whom assurances were given by the parents. 

In the seventh ward, he visited one thousand three hundred and 
thirty families and places of business, finding one hundred and sixty- 
six destitute; furnishing gratuitously seventy Bibles and forty-four 
Testaments, and gaining assurances that eighty-three out of one hun- 
dred and forty-eight neglected children should be sent to Sabbath 
school. Sixty of the destitute families said they were in the habit of 
attending public worship on the Lord's day, and one hundred and three 
by their own confession were found to be habitual neglecters of all 
public and private worship. 



23 



In the last of the reports from which these facts have been deduced, 
the agent concludes with these memorable words of thanksgiving : 
" In this brief report of the seventh and last ward, completing the 
visiting and supply of the entire city with the Word of God, 1 would, in 
conclusion, record my gratitude to the Grod of the Bible for preserving 
me to complete this vastly important work, and though I cannot hope 
that all has been accomplished that I have earnestly desired and sought, 
I have the fullest assurance that great good has been done, and much 
more abundant good will be secured by this agency. To Him whose 
work it is, and whose servants we are, to Him be all the praise forever/ 7 

Thus we have followed him through one of his faithful explorations of 
the whole Capital of this great and nominally Christian nation ; and 
the marginal table,* which I have computed from his own journal as 
reported, will give the moral aspect of the metropolis in pretty true 
mathematical proportions as it was at that time. 

3. We may next consider our brother's labors in connection with the 
City Missionary Society, which was really the offspring of his philan- 
thropy, and the very soul of which was his ardent piety and zeal. 

These discoveries made by him as agent of the City Bible Society, 
so affected the pious people and especially the pastors of Washington, 
that the inquiry became general and earnest, " What shall be done to 
promote the cause of evangelical religion among the destitute of this 
city V A similar question is proposed by every Christian citizen con- 
cerning the entire country, and especially by those residing in cities, 
concerning the cities in which they live. It is a solemn fact, deduced 
from the most reliable estimates, that not more than one-third of all the 
population of the United States are ever, on any one pleasant Sabbath, 
convened in places of public worship. In cities the ratio is still more 



* Table. 





1st Ward. 


2d Ward. 


3d Ward. 


4th Ward. 




CO 




Total. 


Families and places of business visited 


1168 


1233 


1168 


1670 


1050 


840 


1330 


8459 


Those destitute of the Word of God 


104 


103 


109 


197 


114 


69 


166 


862 


Those who refused copies on any terms 


14 


17 


26 


68 


31 


7 


12 


175 


The number of destitute readers supplied.... 


115 


79 


100 


154 


132 


84 


165 


829 




142 


139 


90 


129 


94 


81 


148 


823 


The number of such whose future at- 




















63 


72 


48 


71 


49 


48 


S3 


434 


The number of the destitute who attend 




















61 


36 


49 


74 


40 


35 


60 


345 


The number of the destitute who do not 




















39 


67 


60 


80 


64 


50 


103 


463 



24 



forbidding. I might speak of London, in evangelical England, with 
her thirty thousand " Costers/' who are as literal heathens as the Hin- 
doos, and her many hundreds of thousands equally degraded, who never 
hear the Gospel, nor enter the house of God unless to pilfer or to beg. 
But my remarks are concerning our own cities, and Washington as the 
metropolis of the evangelical America. "We need not go abroad for 
examples of moral want — our land is full. Illustrations might be 
gathered from the cities of the Pilgrims, of the Mississippi valley, or 
of the Southern States; but the city with whose moral aspect I am most 
familiar, is New York, and the moral condition of that commercial 
emporium, numerically expressed, suggests what may yet be true of 
this metropolis, unless God shall raise up many municipal benefactors 
like the deceased city missionary. In that city, at the time Mr. Wilson 
was canvassing Washington, I collected many facts like the following : 
At least one hundred thousand of her population had no stated places 
of worship. The houses of worship erected were so inadequate, that 
if all the people who were able to attend Church (making all due allow- 
ance for the protection of residences, ministry to the sick, &c.) had 
convened for public religious services on any given day, there would 
have been at least one hundred thousand people who could not be seated 
in the sanctuary for want of room, making necessary one hundred new 
churches, competent to seat each one thousand persons, in order to 
meet a moral want which was then pressing upon that people. A nu- 
merical estimate of the city morals made a showing of more religious 
destitution than existed at the same time in the Sandwich Islands. In 
the latter an average of more than one in five persons represented the 
ratio of church membership, and in the former the average was only 
one member to ten citizens. In the five oldest wards of the city were 
eighty-four thousand people and but eighteen churches ; and in the 
Sandwich Islands, with the same numerical population, were twenty-two 
churches and twenty-five ministers. 

When adults were thus morally destitute, juvenile depravity was of 
course abundant. The grand jury reported that year : " Of the higher 
grades of felony, /owr-fifths of the complaints examined have been against 
minors" The schedule for the city prison under the same date showed 
sixteen thousand criminals, four thousand under twenty-one years of 
age, and one thousand under fifteen years. Out of twelve thousand 
c hildren in one ward between the ages of five and sixteen, the captain of 
police reported only seven thousand attending day schools, and two 
t housand five hundred attending Sabbath schools, having five thousand 
children in that ward without advantages of a common education, and 
nine thousand destitute of all public religious influence. In perfect 



25 



keeping with this, was the official statement of the chief of police for 
the following year, showing that more than four thousand commitments 
of minors and nearly eight thousand juvenile arrests had been made in 
twelve months. 

These facts may seem foreign to my hearers and to my subject, but 
they bear directly upon the importance of the question which Mr. 
Wilson's disclosures had started in the public mind in Washington. 
Thirty years before, New York was young, and christian enterprise had 
centered there. Although there were some vile sections with destitute 
and abandoned people, it was believed the scum of vice and poverty 
would soon be cleansed or float away through the various means of 
livelihood presented in our broad and sparsely-populated country. 
The results in New York, however, showed differently, and they illustrate 
the importance of incessant effort. A general analogy of circumstances 
and of the relations of cause and effect, exists in all growing cities when 
compared with each other. In respect to morals, this is especially true 
of New York and Washington. Both are national centres, both have 
their causes, their captains and cadets of crime. The one is a grand 
ware and market house of states and nations, the other is the Federal 
City, standing on a hill where it cannot be hid, and yet sitting beneath 
the eaves of the world, with every negative influence bearing down upon 
its private thrift and evangelical truthfulness and piety. The growing 
capital of a great nation naturally attracts multitudes by the rewards 
of curiosity, and alienates them by the disappointment of baseless cal- 
culations. It calls many beneath its auspices, who wait in want till death 
for the anticipated benefactions. It presents a moral aspect, from its 
very incipiency to the maturity of age, and established customs, tinged 
with every variety of character, and influenced by every grade and con- 
dition of life. Such a city is in all respects the child of the nation of 
which it is the capital. This may not be true of a commercial empo- 
rium ; but it is true of this metropolis. Morally, Washington is at 
once the offspring and the representative of the entire confederacy, and 
it should be the child of prayers and liberal patronage throughout the 
nation ; yet this does not excuse its citizens from the most direct and 
self-sacrificing local efforts. We cannot ask patronage abroad when we 
do not exert ourselves at home. Such was the conviction of the few 
devoted men who met on the 28th of March, 1848, in the lecture-room 
of the E street Baptist Church to consider the remedy for those evils 
in our midst which the Bible agent had revealed. To this meeting had 
been invited, by public notice, the ministers and members of all the 
evangelical churches of the city, many of which were represented by a 
zealous delegation of pastors and laymen. A society was organized, 



/ 



26 

denominated "The Washington City Union Missionary and Tract 
Society/' by the adoption of a constitution, the fifth article of which 
was that " the management of this society shall be intrusted to an 
executive committee, composed of the president, secretary, and treas- 
urer, and the pastors of the evangelical churches; five of whom 
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. They shall 
appoint their own chairman, and make their own laws." The object 
of the society was declared to be " to promote the cause of evangelical 
religion among the destitute in this city j" and, to accomplish this 
object, Mr. Wilson was appointed by the executive committee visiting 
agent. This society held its first public meeting in the F street Presby- 
terian Church on the 19th February, 1849. At this meeting the agent 
gave his first annual report, including some nine months' labor. He 
entered at once upon his mission after the organization of the society 
the March previous ; he visited all parts of the city, especially those 
remote from places of public worship; and by distributing tracts, 
reading the Bible, prayer, and religious conversation, labored to impress 
upon individuals and families the sanctifying truth of the Gospel. In 
his first general report he says : 

" I entered upon the -work assigned me, going from family to family among the 
poor and destitute of the city, on Monday, April 3, 1848. I have from that time 
to the 1st of February, 1849, made 2,766 visits, engaged in prayer in these 
990 times, distributed 8,805 tracts, containing 24,800 pages. 

"It has been most gratifying and cheering to me to observe the very cordial 
manner in which I have been generally and almost universally received by the 
people. In all cases where circumstances permitted, I have, in the most per- 
sonal and earnest manner, urged upon all the great concerns of their souls' sal- 
vation, beseeching and praying them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God ; 
and, relying alone upon Him, the good Spirit from on high has been present, 
making the truth reach the heart, evidenced by the tears coursing down the 
cheeks of many which no effort of theirs could stay or conceal, and accompanied 
frequently by their own expression of their sense of guilt and danger. 

" I have not failed to employ my utmost efforts to fix upon the minds of all 
the vast importance to themselves and families of their becoming regular 
attendants upon some place of public worship, that from the mouth of God's 
servants, the living ministry, they might hear the great truths of his Gospel, 
the ordained instrumentality for salvation to all that believe. I have used my 
best efforts to induce parents to send their children regularly to some Sabbath 
school most convenient and agreeable to themselves, that they might have the 
privilege and advantage of enjoying the religious instruction which it is 
their aim and special object to communicate, and which, by the blessing of God, 
they have so successfully accomplished in the salvation of so many children and 
youth taught in them. 

"On Friday evening, the 14th of April, I commenced a prayer meeting at 
the Glass House, visiting every family, and conversing and praying with them 



27 



on the day of the meeting. I soon felt that previous divine influences were 
resting upon and pervading the region, extending to almost every family in the 
neighborhood. The stillness and solemnity of the meeting equalled anything I 
had ever witnessed, though there were usually two or three mothers present, 
with their children in their arms. 

" I soon invited those feeling themselves lost or ruined sinners, and deter- 
mined now to seek the great salvation, to manifest it by rising or kneeling while 
a hymn was being sung. Two immediately arose, and on one occasion as many 
as eight. As the result in that neighborhood, sixteen have already united them- 
selves with evangelical churches, all heads of families. In three cases both 
husbands and wives have joined themselves to Christ and his people in a spirit- 
ual union, which, if real, shall never be dissolved in time or eternity. 

"The meeting on English Hill commenced the first Wednesday in July, and 
has been continued to this time. Soon the fiercest opposition was stirred up by 
an old woman, calling herself a Eoman Catholic, who excited the half-grown 
boys to talk and be noisy about the door, and even to throw gravel against and 
into the house to disturb us. The man at whose house the meeting was held 
told me he was afraid to have it continued any longer, lest he should suffer in- 
jury. I told him not to fear ; that / could not think of letting the devil drive me off 
the ground while doing my Master's work; that I would get a police officer to see 
that we were not disturbed or annoyed in our worship. I received the services 
of one who most faithfully and successfully performed his duty, so that the 
meeting soon assumed a stillness and, to a considerable extent, the solemnity 
that became the place of prayer. Soon a few of those attending seemed evi- 
dently awakened to a sense of their guilt and danger, and were prepared to ask 
what they must do to be saved. They were made special subjects of prayer ; and 
in a few weeks they gave evidence that they had passed from death unto life. 
Two of them have united themselves with the Church of God, and others will 
no doubt soon follow their example. Four others, in different parts of the city, 
in connection with my labors, have also professed religion, making, in all, 
twenty-two that have already united themselves with evangelical churches. 
None of them, when first visited, were in the regular habit of attending any 
place of worship; some not having attended for three, five, six, and, in one case, 
even eight years. 

" The number of individuals and families that have been induced by this 
means to become regular attendants upon the worship of God on the Sabbath 
I know to be large, but cannot state with certainty the precise number." 

The executive committee have given most positive testimony to his 
usefulness. They testify, two years after the society was organized, as 
follows : 

"With the evidences before them, the committee cannot hesitate in expressing 
the opinion that much real good has been effected through the labors of the 
agent. The instances alluded to are but a few, culled here and there from his 
monthly reports; and the reports themselves, abounding, as they do, in thrilling 
interest, are but selections from the indications of good which he meets with 
every month. There is every motive that can be derived both from faith and 
vision to urge the friends of the society to continued and renewed exertion. 



28 



From the seed sown, much fruit has been already gathered ; the field is a most 
encou raging one, and proofs of its fruitfulness are constantly multiplying. 

"If any doubt the usefulness of the society, and ask what are the evidences 
that it has as yet accomplished any substantial good, to such we say, go with us 
to one of the outskirts of the city, and we will show you there a house of worship 
which it has built, far from any other, and in which not less than twice a week 
the prayers of the children of God are mingled, and the voice of the ministry is 
heard ; and then, if you can bear so long a walk, go with us to another remote 
section, and we will lead you to another building which it has erected, where 
also twice a week attentive congregations assemble for prayer, and to listen to 
the preaching of the Gospel ; and if you can tarry there awhile, we will intro- 
duce you also to a flourishing Sabbath school, gathered through the same in- 
strumentality. Besides this, if you will pass around on the Sabbath through 
the various churches and Sunday schools, and ask of many who have commenced 
attending only during the last year or two, " Who are these, and whence came 
they? 1 ' you will learn that they have been persuaded to attend through the 
means of this society ; and if you will visit some of these churches at the solemn 
season of communion, you will behold, seated around the table of the Lord, a 
goodly number, who, until visited by the agent of this society, were strangers 
to the Saviour and to his people. Through the instrumentality of the society, 
thirty-four persons, nearly all of them heads of families, have united with differ- 
ent churches; four have died in the triumphs of faith, three of them before 
having had an opportunity to connect themselves with any church ; and, in all, 
sixty-five have professed conversion. 

" If you wish further evidence, and will accompany the agent in any of his 
daily tours, he will introduce you to numerous families who, though poor in 
this world's goods, are rich in hope of an inheritance in heaven ; and you may 
hear among them the voice of prayer, mingled with thanksgiving for the insti- 
tution of this society, and imploring blessings upon all its friends. He will 
point you, among other instances of equal interest, to a family whose head, a 
little while since, was an intemperate man, and so violent and abusive that his 
wife and children were compelled to leave him, but who now is a sober and in- 
dustrious citizen, his family living together in harmony, and among whom con- 
fusion has given place to peace, and fear been driven away by love. 

" If not yet satisfied, we will refer you to the people themselves, among whom 
the agent has visited, multitudes of whom will testify, in the emphatic language 
which one of them used a year ago, ' Sir, I see you are doing much good in 
the neighborhood, and I can and do heartily wish you success. I will give you 
all the encouragement I can.' 

"If to all this you reply, ' But the field is a small one, and therefore but 
little can be done,' we answer (without stopping to prove so easy a proposition 
as that where religious influence is exerted no field can be small) that the good 
done by the society has already been carried beyond the limits of the corpora- 
tion. A family moved into this city some time ago from Virginia, and was 
visited by the agent; while here, one of the members of the family gave good 
evidence of having experienced a change of heart, and when about to return to 
Virginia, said to the agent, ' I will employ my best efforts to get up a Sabbath 
school in the neighborhood where I am going,' and with tears in his eyes, and a 
melting heart, asked him to join with her to pray for her brothers and the un- 



29 



converted of her family. Who can limit religious influence, or stay its ever- 
widening circles ? Who can say to it, thus far shalt thou go, and no farther ; 
or mark out its metes and bounds ? 

" The agent has been faithful in the discharge of his duties. While the extent 
of his influence and his success are not to be measured by arithmetical compu- 
tation, it may yet indicate his efficiency to state that, during the two years in 
which the society has been in existence, he has made more than five thousand 
visits, engaged in prayer in the families which he has visited nearly three thou- 
sand times, and distributed nearly seven thousand tracts, containing upwards of 
forty-four thousand pages. Among the persons whom he has visited, besides 
conversation and prayer, he has frequently read tracts and portions of scripture. 
He has often been sent for by individuals who were sick, and in many cases has 
been the means of obtaining for the poor needed assistance. He has not only 
himself attended the prayer meetings near the Glass House and on English Hill, 
but has every week taken pains to secure the attendance of brethren from dif- 
ferent churches, ministers, and often choirs of young persons. He distributes 
the notices of the meetings of the executive committee, attend their sessions, 
and prepares for them every month a written report of his proceedings. The 
labors specifically assigned to him by the committee he has voluntarily increased, 
and has toiled with an ardor and discretion of zeal which could have flowed only from 
love, and which will doubtless receive from the society, as it has already done 
from the executive committee, the fullest approbation. " a 

Of this society he was the chief embodiment and efficiency till 
the 20th October, 1852, when, to meet the wants of those whom he 
found in his visits destitute of the word of God, he again enlisted as 
agent of the City Bible Society, canvassing the whole city as before 
described, and even exploring nearly the entire county of Washington. 
In the mean time his usefulness as a visiting agent and city missionary 
had been reported to the secretaries of the American Tract Society resi- 
ding at New York, and they were interested to appoint him to carry on 
his work under their direction as a special visitor and agent of their 
society. His interest in the tract cause made the appointment very 
congenial to his wishes, and he gladly accepted it, entering without 
delay upon their service in a manner very similar to his former mis- 
sionary work. 

4. Of the results of his labors for the American Tract Society, 
much more should be said and written than can be at present. As 
when employed by the Union Missionary and Tract Society, he again 
went from family to family, with religious books and tracts, conversing 
and, so far as practicable, praying with the inmates of every dwelling. 
The chief object of the American Tract Society is to reach those indi- 
viduals and families with religious truth who do not attend upon the 
public preaching of the Gospel, and are destitute of good religious 
reading. 

This class of the American people is, as I have before stated, very 



30 



numerous in all our States and cities, and if churches and a living 
ministry are essential to sound morality, civil freedom, and genuine 
salvation, this colporteur work in some form is no less important or 
even essential. In thinly-populated regions, and in large or densely- 
crowded cities, this work cannot "be too highly esteemed. It is a work 
particularly necessary in the District of Columbia, and Elder Wilson 
was eminently qualified to prosecute it thoroughly. His labors in this 
sphere were indeed more abundant than many could endure, and more 
blessed than many would dare anticipate. The officers of the society 
in New York were, in a measure, made aware of these facts by his 
statistical reports and other tokens of his eagerness to be useful. Per- 
sonal interviews with the secretaries of the society before his death, 
and their communications since, assure me that he was not unappreci- , 
ated, and that they felt grateful for the providences which secured to the 
general tract cause the services of so valuable a man. His facts also 
speak in unmistakable approval of his efficiency. 

One of his statistical reports represents, in a concise tabular form, 
$2,435 80 received for sales ; $190 worth of books and tracts given to 
the destitute j two hundred public meetings addressed, and prayer meet- 
ings held by himself; one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine 
families destitute of all religious books except the Bible ; five hundred 
and two families still found in the District of Columbia destitute of the 
Bible ; one thousand six hundred and twenty-six habitually neglecting 
public evangelical worship ; eight thousand five hundred and forty-six 
families visited ; and six thousand five hundred and forty-five prayed 
with or fervently addressed on matters of personal religion. The 
incidents given in connection with his statistical reports* are, many of 
them, both thrilling and instructive, and indicate the earnestness and 
acceptance with which he preached Christ in the families which he 
visited. " The American Messenger" and u Child's Paper," the best 
periodicals of the kind published in the world, were often enriched by 
extracts from his concise and deeply pious sketches. Several of his 
reports and a few of his filial letters have been sent me by mail during 
the week, and it is really affecting to trace, in his own trembling hand- 
writing, his diligence in this cause. " He went about doing good." 
" It was his meat and drink to do the will of Him that sent him." 
How many families were visited in a year, and made better for his 
presence? How much more beautiful to him was the image of Christ 
reflected from the spirit of the Christain, clothed with divine righteous- 
ness, than regular features and costly apparel ! How much brighter to 
his eye were tears of penitence than costly gems or night's best shower 
of stars. Repentant tears were, to him, like the first dews of morning — 



31 



like the light of heaven darting in through "the door of hope/' and por- 
traying, in the dark prison-walls of depraved hearts, the inverted 
images of glory. He was comforted by penitential sorrow, for he knew 
" the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit," and used often to say with 
assurance, " A broken and contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise." 
He may have been too hopeful ; if so, it was a good fault, for which no 
man might chide him. His own sketches indicate great hopefulness, 
sincerity, frankness, and faithfulness. He was often very forcibly 
and convincing in his personal appeals. A few of the incidents re- 
corded in his reports before the three societies already named should 
not be omitted here. They will reveal his spirit as a family visitor, 
and his success in reaching the hardest hearts. 

When laboring for the City Bible Society, among a multitude of 
interesting sketches reported I find an interview with a sick man nigh 
unto death, who had beside him on his couch a Bible which Mr. Wilson 
had furnished him six years before, and which, with the earnest en- 
treaties made at the time the Bible was given, had been to him " the 
law that is perfect, converting the soul." The sacred present had 
become a bright light in " the dark valley," and the agent who, six 
years before had visited him in time to give him the effectual warning, 
had now called again in time to record his dying testimony of hope and 
faith. Another visit to the sick is recorded in the same report, in 
which the sufferer was an aged colored woman, who was unable to read, 
and had no Bible, but was attended by her sister, who could read, and 
who had endeavored to procure a Testament, but was in such utter 
destitution as to render it impossible for her to pay for one in large 
type such as she needed. Mr. Wilson gave them a Bible, heard them 
read from it, and then urged them to an immediate preparation to meet 
God, and described to them the character and mission of Christ, as 
himself " the way, the truth, and the life." The heart-felt gratitude 
which they expressed for such " glad tidings" was enough to shed light 
upon the agent's path for many days. 

I will quote from his own pen a few incidents, which will show his 
fidelity to all classes, and illustrate his mode of personal effort. 

" In a house neatly furnished I asked the lady, herself richly attired, 
if she had a Bible. She said, 'No, indeed! and I do not want any !' 
She further said she was of no denomination, and attended no church. 
I offered to give her a Bible : she thanked me and said, if she wanted 
one, she was able to buy it and pay for it. I asked her the cause of 
her hostility to the Bible. She replied, 1 There are so many hypocritical 
professors of religion that I want nothing to do with it in any form/ 
She illustrated what she meant by referring to her husband's mother, 



32 



as having induced him to expend for her luxury what belonged strictly 
to his wife. I told her that what she had stated, and her present un- 
happy feelings, were proof that she needed the power of the Gospel 
before she could be peaceful in spirit — that God's testimony is, ' there 
is no peace to the wicked, who are like the troubled sea which cannot 
rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.' I asked her if she did not 
find it true in her own experience ? She said, i Yes ; I am far from 
being happy.' I answered, 1 So it will be with you so long as you seek 
happiness in the world. The very friendship of the world is enmity 
with God/ I then urged her to seek peace by repentance towards God 
and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ — laying up better treasures than 
earth can give in heaven, at God's right hand, where are pleasures for 
evermore ; and assuring her that where her treasure is, there her heart 
must be also. As I left, she expressed deep gratitude for the interest 
in her which I had manifested." 

" Another, a German rationalist, whom I asked if he had a Bible, 
said he had none, and did not believe in it that he knew enough of it, 
having been taught it in the schools in Germany, and proved it to be 
false in several parts of it. I told him the difficulty was not in the 
Bible, but in the depravity and wickedness of his own spirit, as the Bible 
truly testifies, c the carnal heart is enmity against God, deceitful above 
all things, and desperately wicked; not subject to the law of God, neither 
indeed can be.' After further conversation, he admitted the Bible 
contains the purest morals known among men. I asked him how that 
could be, if, as he said, it taught falsehood. He stood embarrassed for 
an answer, when I told him I would leave him to settle the matter with 
his own heart, with a prayer in his behalf that the Lord would open his 
mind and heart to see, believe, and know the truth as it is in Jesus." 

" I entered a house in which I found three Irish women. They said 
they had no Bible ; that they were Boman Catholics, and did not need 
any; that they had their prayer-book, and such books as the church di- 
rected to be used. I opened my bundle, and offered to supply them 
with a Bible. They replied, JSTo ; they wanted none of my Protestant 
books in their house. One of them left the room and went up stairs, 
and invited down a rough looking man, and then passing by me locked 
the front door. He stood in the door leading to the other part of the 
house, and, with angry countenance, said, * How can you engage in 
such nefarious business as circulating a false version of the Bible V I 
told him I had the true and best Bible in existence. He said, ' The 
circulation of the Protestant Bible has caused more angry feelings and 
bloodshed than all other causes." I replied, the Bomish Church 
fears the Bible, and tries to conceal and keep it from the people, 



lest they become too enlightened to submit to her penances, confessionals, 
and oppressions, and has literally deluged the earth with the blood of the 
saints ; that while we are talking, there are men and women incarcer- 
ated in loathsome prisons in Italy, subject to execution for no other 
offence but reading the Word of the living God, which he has given to 
make wise unto salvation and to make us free indeed. Finding me 
still unintimidated and faithful to tell him the truth, he asked me, in 
a calmer tone, how I knew this was the Word of God, I answered, I 
know it from the perfect portraiture which it exhibits of the secret 
workings and corruptions of the soul, such as none but the omniscient 
God could develop, and I know from the fulfilment of prophecy that 
it is the record of Him who knoweth all things from the beginning. 
I then read the 53d chapter of Isaiah. He took a seat and listened to 
it, and I asked him to whom he thought that referred. He said, 'Evi- 
dently to the Lord Jesus Christ.' I replied, in conclusion, that in Him 
is fulfilled all the law and the prophets, and He is the end of the law 
for righteousness to all that believe on Him. Having presented to 
them thus the doctrine of the supremacy of God's Word and salvation 
by faith, I bade them an affectionate farewell and departed." 

u In another family I asked the woman of the house if she had a 
Bible. A Bible ! said she ; she did not know what I meant. I showed 
her one ; and she said she never had anything like it. A lady present 
said, in explanation, c We are Roman Catholics and do not need or 
•use the Bible ; and would not be allowed to have it if we wanted it 
ever so much/ I told them it was wicked to allow themselves to be 
robbed of the bread of life; that God would hold them individually ac- 
countable for their treatment of Him and His Word, given to teach 
them the way of eternal life; that God had given the Bible to us as our 
birthright ; that the Saviour commanded them to 'search the Scriptures,' 
and that the Apostle commended the Bereans for searching the Scrip- 
tures, and that all true successors of the Apostles would do the same. I 
told them I would like to leave the Word of God with them, that they 
might see for themselves what it contained. They said they would surely 
read it if I would leave it, and take care of it till I should come again. 
I left them both reading the Bible, and offered a silent prayer that God 
would attend it with. His blessing and make it the wisdom of God 
and the power of God to their salvation." 

"In one house I found a man sick with the consumption. He said, 
in answer to the inquiry if he was a Christian, ' in myself I am nothing, 
but on Christ I rely for salvation. I trust in Him as able and willing 
to save all that come to God by him.' After praying with him, he 
asked my name, and said he was glad to see me to tell me of the happy 
3 



84 



influence of a Bible which I gave to his lame brother five years previous- 
He said, the conversation and prayer I had with him made an impres- 
sion upon his mind, and he gradually became deeply interested in his 
Bible till it was his constant companion. He said, he had witnessed 
often the comfort it afforded him in his affliction, and beheld his ulti- 
mate peaceful death." " A widowed mother, with four little children 
to support, said she was almost ashamed to tell me she had no Bible ; 
that she would gladly buy one, but she had no money. I handed her one, 
and told her, as agent of the Washington Bible Society, I was authorized 
to give it to her. She seemed truly grateful for it, and I asked her if 
she had seriously attended to her salvation. She replied, she had not. 
I sought to hold up to her view the nature of her guilt and danger 
as a sinner condemned already and the wrath of God abiding on her, 
and the vast importance to herself and children of giving immediately 
her best energies to secure eternal life by embracing Jesus Christ as her 
Saviour. She seemed much interested in the words which I spoke and 
read. We knelt in prayer that God's Spirit might open her heart to 
receive the truth. Six or eight days after, when passing near her resi- 
dence, another woman came calling after me and said she had inquired 
of several to find where I lived ; for a lady to whom I had given a 
Bible was very ill and wished much to see me. I went immediately to 
see her and found her dangerously ill with lung fever, but much alive 
to her guilty condition. She said she felt her sins burdening her, and 
knew not what to do. I pointed to Christ as able to save to the utter- 
most all who come to God by Him ; as having borne her sins and car- 
ried her sorrows, and now saying ' Come unto me/ These and other 
similar truths seemed to calm her troubled spirit. She asked me to pray 
for her, which I did with all my heart. Before I left, she said she felt 
peace in believing in Jesus. I visited her many times after that, and 
always found her submissive to the divine will and at peace, ever glad 
to see me, and seeming literally to drink in the truth which I was kindly 
permitted to bear to her." 

These extracts from his notes as Bible agent indicate his fitness to be 
a blessing to all classes in all circumstances. The incidents found in 
his memoranda as city missionary are more interesting in their detail 
than those already repeated ; but the extracts given, when speaking of 
that department of his labor, and the large number of incidents from 
which to select a few as illustrative of his labors in the American tract 
cause, compel me to omit all his personal sketches when visiting for the 
Union Missionary Society. 

As colporteur of the American Tract Society, he recorded many faith- 
ful interviews and acknowledged much fruit for his faithfulness. He 



35 

says : " On one occasion a Sabbath-school teacher told me that two of hla 
class were first interested and awakened by reading the 4 Scripture Biog- 
raphy' and 1 Repository of Tracts' which I had furnished them, and 
were recently admitted to church-fellowship with himself." " A colored 
man told me that 1 Romaine's Life of Faith' had given him much 
light on that difficult subject; that he had read it many times, and that 
he was striving to live by faith in the Son of Grod and to bring forth 
fruits of piety." 

" Four or five months since I visited a family composed of father, 
mother, and son. As I did not succeed in selling any of my books, I 
gave them some tracts and talked and prayed with them. A few days 
afterwards the young man hailed me in the street, saying they had been 
so much interested in the tracts that he wished to get something else 
of me. He purchased Pike's Persuasives to Early Piety, and Baxter's 
Saints' Rest. Some days after the family removed to the country, and 
I did not see any of them until two weeks since, when the son came up 
to me with every expression of pleasure and joy, shook me warmly by 
the hand, and began to tell what the Lord had done for him. He said, 
' Serious impressions were first made upon my mind by reading the tracts, 
and these impressions were matured by reading the books which I got 
from you, and my father, mother, and myself were led by them to the 
foot of the cross, where we found joy and peace in believing in Jesus : 
we are now members of an evangelical church near our home.' 7 

u A gentleman who purchased James' Anxious Inquirer, Sabbath 
Manual, &c, says : ' The reading of those books has entirely revolutionized 
the state of things in my family. Before that, none cared much for 
the Sabbath, church, or anything of the sort ; but now all that can at- 
tend church and esteem it a pleasant service, and two of us are so 
much interested in religious things that we shall soon join the people 
of G-od.' I asked which of his family were particularly interested and 
weighing the subject of church-membership. He replied, 1 Myself and 
my eldest daughter, and I hope there are others that will not tarry long 
behind.' " 

" In my visits I met a young man from the country, and prevailed 
upon him to purchase Baxter's Call and Harlan Page. Some time after 
I saw him again, when he met me with so much pleasure and joy upon his 
counetnance that I was sure he had some good tidings to communicate. 
As soon as he could give expression to his feelings — for they seemed too 
big for utterance — he said, ' The books I purchased of you have been 
richly blessed to me, by arousing me to a sense of my lost condition as a 
sinner. For several days I was much burdened and distressed on account 
of my sins, but I continued to read and to pray till light broke in upon 



36 



my spirit. Since then I have been peaceful and happy. My mother and 
sister here are also much interested in reading them, and are now seriously 
impressed. I wish to express my gratitude to you for having brought 
such a treasure to me.' He bought several other books — Doddridge, 
Flavel, &c. — saying he expected they would continue to do good in his 
neighborhood." 

" Some time since I gave a youth of sixteen or seventeen years of 
age the tract entitled ' Come to Jesus/ which he took home. He read 
it with such deep emotion as to be noticed by the other members of the 
family. From that time there was a marked change in him. He then 
began to attend one of the evangelical churches in the city, and was a 
regular attendant at the Sabbath school, until prevented by sickness. 
His sickness terminated fatally in five weeks, but not until the spirit of 
faith, wrought in his heart by God's blessing upon the tract, had 
been developed. He repeated many times, he was not afraid to die j 
that he believed and trusted in Jesus as his only Saviour, and expressed 
much thankfulness that God had directed me to him. Just before he 
breathed his last, he made a most earnest and touching appeal to his 
sorrowing friends, urging them to prepare to meet him in heaven." 

" A woman with a blind husband told me I could never know in this 
world how much good I had done them by my weekly visits with tracts 
and spiritual counsel, which had been blessed in bringing them to be- 
hold wondrous things out of God's law, and leading them from their 
spiritual blindness into the marvellous light of the Gospel." " An aged 
man said, 1 For seventy years I have been neglecting and even scoffing 
at religion, but God in His great compassion has shown me my condition 
as a sinner when reading 1 The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain.' ' Now he 
is a joyful Christian." " I presented a young man from the country 
the little volume ' Young Man from Home.' He recently met me and 
said the volume was exactly suited to his state of mind ; it so fully ex- 
posed his imminent dangers that he regarded it as a kind messenger sent 
from his Father in heaven to prevent his ruin. These impressions led 
him to the house of God, where the way of salvation was more clearly 
opened before him, and he was led to devote himself and all that he had 
to the service of Christ his Saviour." " Twenty-three persons professing 
conversion have communicated the fact that their first serious impres- 
sions were made by the silent messages of truth furnished in my visits 
to them. How many others may have been blessed in the same brief 
period and by the same instrumentalities eternity only can disclose." 
"I am thus constantly in part receiving the fruit of my labors; and 
though at times feeble in my bodily frame, my heart is rejoiced and 
strengthened in this good work." 



37 



I must not multiply incidents recorded by his own trembling hand 
in these reports. Two full chapters at least might be given to facts of the 
most interesting character had we time ; but I must pass to notice — 

5. His labors in the Sunday-school cause : And here the record is 
also too full, and it is to a large extent sealed up until the time of the 
end. Those added to the churches with which he has been associated 
have in many instances attributed their first serious impression to the 
kindness of his entreaties, the tangible nature of his piety, and the 
earnestness of his prayers as a superintendent of Sabbath schools. 

In the first of his association with the Christian church, he evinced a 
fondness for the young persons in the congregation, which met a re- 
sponse from the hearts of parents and children. Parents love the man 
who loves their children and is willing to exert himself for their wel- 
fare ; the children also loved him because he first loved them. These 
facts, connected with his ardent and inevitable punctuality, fitted him at 
once to superintend the Sabbath school of the church in which he was an 
elder, and he was appointed to aid in this work in 1823, when connected 
with the Second Presbyterian Church, and continued an active and ac- 
ceptable superintendent of schools until his decease. His influence in 
shaping and sustaining the Sabbath School Union of this city is familiar 
to the minds of all who have seen the tall slender frame and benigu 
features of the man as he marshaled the juvenile forces at annual meet- 
ings, and moved about a master spirit among them. His presence was 
always a token for good — his absence was a marvel. 

In regard to his fitness for this work, and the past usefulness of his 
ministry to the young, one of his former pastors, who is now in a dis- 
tant land, said to me more than a year since, " He is a most indefati- 
gable man in his labors for the children of the congregation ; and the 
result is, many are converted in the Sabbath school, and others received 
the impressions which make them the ready subjects of revivals. Prob- 
ably more persons were brought into the Fourth Presbyterian Church 
in this way than by the influence of any other one man." 

Elder Wilson was for many years the life and soul of very important 
schools in this city. One intimately associated with him in his early 
labors of love in Washington, writes me as follows : 

" He was, as all know, a devoted friend of the Sunday-school cau.se. 
With, few advantages of early education, and little critical acquaintance 
with the Scriptures, he made, nevertheless, an impressive and profitable 
teacher, dealing as he always did in the vital, fundamental truths of the 
Christian system, and watering as he did all his teaching with prayer, 
he succeeded in making a strong impression on the minds of the young. 
Then he was constitutionally and habitually punctual His watch 



38 

was always in his hand : whoever was behind the appointed hour, he 
was not." 

"Brought up in the country, he had the habit of early rising; and 
this helped to make him a great friend to early prayer-meetings. A 
prayer-meeting at sunrise was one of the measures which marked the 
rise of the Fourth Church. I could relate instances of the open, obvious, 
undeniable, and immediate answers to prayer there offered which would 
surprise Christians, and which to worldly men or lukewarm professors 
would be altogether incredible. I trembled while I beheld. 0, that it 
were so always !" 

6. This leads me to speak of his experience as a praying man and 
his efforts to originate and sustain prayer-meetings, some of which 
resulted in the organization of Sunday schools and churches. 

While a member of the Second Church, and then of the Fourth, and 
finally of the Western Church, he was a man distinguished for his 
importunity, perseverance, and prevalence in prayer. In seasons of 
revival or great spiritual declension, he was often in an agony of prayer, 
which would accompany him for days and detain him from both food 
and sleep. He was known at different times to spend the whole night 
in earnest supplication. The general interests of the church and the 
special necessities of individuals with whom he had conversed, were 
ever upon his heart, and he prayed for general and particular objects, 
knowing what blessings he wanted, and for whose sake he desired them. 
The honor of Christ, through whose name and merits all blessings flow 
to men, furnished a sufficient argument for him before the mercy-seat. 
His public prayers were usually brief, but in social and secret worship 
he often lingered by the hour around the throne till he could touch the 
divine sceptre and move the arm that swayed it. He prayed not as if 
his prayers were meritorious, and would lay Grod under obligation to any of 
His creatures ; but he prayed because his soul longed to have what Grod 
loves to give — prayer being, in his esteem, a going up toward Grod for 
the blessings which He is bowing the gentle heavens to offer. G-od had 
manifestly raised in Elder Wilson's spirit the cry for many of the rich- 
est blessings which he ever bestowed upon our citizens or our country. 
His patriotism was inferior only to his piety; and his idea of a Christian 
nation, consecrated to God from its Capital to its circumference, was 
only surpassed by his certain hope, that the kingdom of Christ shall 
yet fill the earth. He was an humble, loyal citizen, and his patriotism 
was not that of the partisan or the politician : it was more like that of 
Jesus and Jeremiah as they wept over Jerusalem, and of Abraham 
when he claimed the promised land, and offered his son within the 
bounds of its future capital, and upon the site of its future magnificent 



so 



temple. His heart was large, and grasped with warm desire the inter- 
ests of this land given by G-od to our fathers : his sympathy was deep, 
and reached to the lowest sons of want, and estimated them by what 
they cost the Son of God, and what they would become if sanctified 
through the truth. No immortal being was, therefore, esteemed lightly, 
or beneath his prayers and efforts. 

Among the first of his labors to establish prayer-meetings, was the 
effort in 1823 to extend the influences of religion among the neglected 
colored people of Washington, who were then in a very destitute con- 
dition, temporally and morally. He appointed a meeting at a private 
house on G- street, between twelfth and thirteenth streets. All the 
inmates of the house were then impenitent, and there' were few pious 
persons at first to attend his appointment. It is supposed to have been 
the first prayer-meeting of the kind ever held in Washington, and its 
utility was indeed a problem. A gentlemen, addressing the monthly 
concert of the Sabbath School Union many years afterwards, described 
the first three meetings in these plain terms: " The first meeting," said 
he, " was thinly attended ; the second, all up and down stairs was full 
of black faces ; and the third, in doors and all out of doors was one 
black cloud reaching far back." 

Every person can see that this was one of the most hazardous under- 
takings at that time, and most difficult to manage, and of most doubtful 
promise ; but to cultivate piety, and awaken an enlightened sense of 
accountability to God and man among these colored people, who were 
the moving monuments of the declaration, "No man hath cared 
for my soul," was to him a work of sufficient importance to authorize 
some risk. He felt called of God to make trial of the matter, and by 
his prudence and perseverance, under the divine blessing, the meetings 
thus commenced, by their restrained and well-timed influence, in con- 
nection with a Sabbath school, (which he originated and conducted at 
the same time on H and fourteenth streets,) resulted in the most 
useful and orderly colored church in this city, whose neat brick edifice 
is seen on Fifteenth street. The late and very worthy pastor of that 
church, Rev. J. F. Cook, was converted through his instrumentality, 
when in his school and a member of his Bible class. Soon after this 
Mr. Wilson was active in supporting a Union Sabbath prayer-meeting, 
in which all the evangelical denominations of Washington were repre- 
sented. This meeting had much to do in bringing about that happy 
spirit of harmony which has rendered evangelical associations of the 
city so happy and efficient in their co-operations. Next is that morning 
prayer-meeting before mentioned, which so signalized the infancy of the 
Fourth Church, and a Congressional prayer-meeting, in which the 



40 



humble, unpretending layman and the honorable, high-minded states- 
man knelt side by side, and followed each the other to the throne of 
grace. And finally, besides the meetings and Sunday schools which he 
established on the " Island" and English Hill, should be mentioned the 
meeting near the " Glass House," and the small meeting-house which 
resulted from it, on the corner of E and twenty-second streets, which 
became the birthplace of the Western Presbyterian Church. [Other 
gentlemen co-operated with him in all these labors, nobly; and when 
they are also dead, what they did should be told as memorials of them : 
the names of no living men shall appear in this discourse, except as 
witnesses.] Elder David M. Wilson was .the legitimate father of this 
church, and I thank God he was not away from home when he died ! 

Concerning his influence in the origin and training of the Fourth 
Church, several truly touching paragraphs have been addressed to me 
during the week, One extract from the lay testimony will suffice to 
show the high esteem in which he was held by the early founders of 
that church. A person who was from the first of that organization 
associated with Mr. Wilson, writes — " I cannot do justice to the vehe- 
mence and activity with which he labored in that new enterprise. He 
beat up for recruits everywhere, entering into the lanes and outskirts 
of the city, and gathering strangers from every charter. His pastor 
had no lack of hearers, and in a little time no lack of converts ; and 
thus, under a marvellous "blessing from heaven, arose as from nothing 
that great interest known as the Fourth Presbyterian Church." 

This testimony of laymen is fully approved by the first and second 
pastors of that church. Rev. Mason Noble, for years his affectionate 
minister, said to me a few weeks before he left for the Mediterranean, 
and I noted his words, " I congratulate you upon having so heavenly- 
minded and so efficient an elder in your church. I know him well, and 
he is the truest man I ever knew. Whatever God has put into his 
heart to do, he will do ; nothing will deter him from giving to his 
pastor the spiritual counsel which his office requires, just as it in his 
own sincere and forgiving spirit. His name, experience, and power 
with God in prayer, eminently fit him to be the spiritual adviser and 
companion of a young minister. Indeed, I know no man on whose co- 
operation I could rely with more confidence." 

Rev. Dr. J. N. Danforth, the first pastor of the Fourth Church, has 
given already his full and affectionate remembrance of Elder Wilson to 
the public. You have read it. He says: " The memory of Mr. Wilson 
Deeds no eulogy from me. His regenerate life was one long scene, I 
may almost say the agony, of industrious effort for the salvation of 
pinners. He had a passion for individual conversions. Sacred, inextin- 



41 



guishable, fed at the fountain of infinite love, it impelled him to 
incessant and untiring efforts for the conversion of men. When, in the 
year 1828, the Fourth Presbyterian Church was founded, all eyes were 
turned to him as the most suitable person to fill the office of its first 
elder. If there be any act of my ministerial life on which I can reflect 
with unalloyed pleasure, it is that in which I laid the hand of ordina- 
tion on the head of this devoted man, and set him apart with prayer to 
the great Head of the Church.* Well and faithfully from that hour did 
he discharge the duties of his high office. Now with the pastor, now 
with the sick, with the Sabbath school, or ministering to the afflicted, 
or seeking out the wandering, or finding the anxious, or rejoicing with 
the converted — and in all glorifying Grod. His life was a sustained 
enthusiasm of the most earnest and practical character. Nothing turned 
him aside from its grand object — the conversion of sinners. Probably 
few ministers have been the means of saving so many souls by direct 
personal effort with individuals." 

Bat I must stop taking testimony concerning his life. Ye all are 
his witnesses how unblamably he lived among you ; and ye know how 
he exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father 
doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called 
you unto His kingdom and glory. (1 Thess., 2 chap.) 

As he had been a blessed instrument in the germination of the First 
Colored Church, and in the origin and full development of the Fourth 
Church, so had he planted the germ of this Western Church, and 
watched it with an assiduity equalled only by his faith and hope. He 
regarded this church enterprise as the child of his prayers and co- 
operations when conducting the meetings near the " Glass House," and 
esteemed it the climax of his usefulness. 

It is fit that the memorial of his life shall be fully given from the 
place where he enacted the best, the closing chapter. All that has 
been testified concerning him in other enterprises as a devoted, a u per- 
fect and upright man," was fully verified the last year of his life. He 
was received as Elder of the Western Presbyterian Church January 
13, 1855, and elected superintendent of the Sabbath school the follow- 
ing Sabbath. Notwithstanding his other labors, no man could have 
been more faithful, more instant in season, more acceptable, more be- 



. * It is worthy of remark, that that ordination, on which the divine approba- 
tion rested, was done without any consultation of Presbytery, and by one not 
then a pastor or member of the Presbytery of the District of Columbia, but by 
one, nevertheless, who has been affectionately devoted to the Presbyterian 
Church. 



42 



loved. He became connected with the church when we worshipped 
in the small wooden house in the outskirts of the city, when the finan- 
cial part of the enterprise, which had been so successfully launched, was 
run aground in a most severe monetary crisis, with a debt of thousands 
pressing upon it, and every known resource apparently exhausted. He 
lived to see the debts of the building committee as nearly paid up as 
they should be, it is believed, till the contract is completed ; the church, 
at first numbering twenty-four, nearly doubled in its members; the 
congregation in this foretaste of the upper sanctuary, which will ad- 
vance to completion as fast as the means are subscribed or the money 
invested, and the builder is willing to advance with it ; and he lived 
to enjoy regularly for months this sacred platform as his place for secret 
prayer. As when he was employed at the Capitol he had his conse- 
crated spot where he always prayed at midnight, so during his associa- 
tion with this house of worship, he used every morning, till after the 
opening of winter, to come here in solitude to pray. The key kept 
at his residence was always missing after breakfast, and here he opened 
the official labors of each day with secret prayer. Yes, my brethren, 
he lived to bear his last testimony around the table of his Lord, where 
he had first beheld His divine glory. He asked confidingly and with 
deep emotion the privilege of lay exhortation at the close of the last 
solemn feast which he celebrated here. It was granted promptly, 
fearing as I did that he might not be again with us. He made the 
closing appeal to the impenitent. It was affectionate, impressive: it 
was to several families here his last appeal. May it be the last you 
need, my friends, to win you to his footsteps. 

7. His last engagement as agent of any society was made with the 
managers of the "Union Benevolent Society/' organized for the relief 
of the poor — an engagement perfected but a few days before the com- 
munion Sabbath just described. 

His day of life was nearly ended, and his efforts for this society were 
the last and well-timed efforts of the working man, as he gives his 
finishing strokes before retiring with his coat and sickle and his loaded 
sheaves in triumph from the field. At certain times he received and 
collected subscriptions for the society ; during given hours of each day 
he tarried at the society rooms to receive applications for food or fuel ; 
and the rest of his time, some of which he should have spent in repose, 
he employed in seeking out the poor, investigating the merit of their 
appeals, and procuring and directing supplies. This was work which 
none understood better than Mr. Wilson, and yet a responsibility which 
required a man of giant frame and iron nerves — one who could bear 
exertion without fatigue, and excitement without anxiety. Mr. Wil- 



43 



son's sensibility was too acute, and his fund of vitality too near ex- 
hausted with life-long exertions, to bear the sight of human want in 
fierce succession,, daily, hourly, and to tread unwonted depths of snow, 
and face unheard of blasts of winter, in his efforts to alleviate suffering 
and loosen the grasp of utter destitution. It was too much : he fell a 
martyr to his own pity for the poor and sympathy with the suffering. 
He laid himself on the altar of suffering humanity, and his own sanc- 
tified sympathy held the sacrificial knife and fire, and he died a free- 
will offering for the destitute and the degraded in this the Capital of 
the United States. "In vain did we urge him, amid the inclemency of 
the winter, to rest his wearied frame, and give nature and nursing an 
opportunity to resist threatening disease. He must work, and did work 
till he could stand up no longer; and on the last day of the past mem- 
orable winter yielded his breath to God ! After being thus assured 
how he lived, we scarcely need to ask how he died!" Yet he who 
teaches others how to live, is best qualified to teach us also how to die. 

II. Let us, then, consider, for a moment, the death of such a man : 
his death — for he is indeed dead ! and his death may be a wise teacher. 
See him in his closing conflict, and mark the final triumph. 

"Let not opinion make your judgment err, 

It is the evening conquest crowns the conqueror." 

His physician, qualified by medical skill and experience, by ardent 
piety and the deepest filial affection, to minister to him in his last sick- 
ness, gives the following account of the disease which terminated his 
life : " Mr. Wilson was attacked, about six weeks before his death, with 
a violent ulceration of the throat, contracted while in the discharge of 
his duties as agent of the ( Union Benevolent Society/ for the relief of 
the poor of Washington. Though suffering severely, he was unwilling 
to give up attending to the wants of the needy, and continued his 
efforts through the . severest of the severe winter, until about three 
weeks before he died. The disease then assumed a typhoid character, 
indicated by great prostration of the system; and such was the 
intensity of the disease that he was unable to swallow anything but 
the mildest liquids. The more immediate cause of his death was the 
extension of the disease to the air passages and lungs, constituting 
inflammation of the lungs, or typhoid pneumonia." He died on the 
morning of the 29th of February, the last morn of winter, and passed 
to that region of perennial spring where he had often seen 

"Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 
Stand dressed in living green." 



44 



We look to those scenes, or try to behold them : 

" The wide, unbounded prospect lies before us; 
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it." 

The partiDg veil was lifted before Mm in his last sickness, so that he 
saw clearly. Perhaps, if we go to his death-bed, we may, as the parting 
veil rises, catch some glimpses of eternal things. 
Approach the scene, reverently and in silence : 

" The chamber where the good man meets his end 

Is privileged beyond the common walks 

Of virtuous life — quite in the verge of heaven!" 

Thus seemed his death-chamber. It was my privilege to be often 
with him there. Though, unable to use freely his vocal organs, and 
not at all without increased pain, still he loved religious conversation. 
His vision was clear and his sky unclouded. His path had been shining 
more and more unto the perfect day, and the meridian sunshine of 
heaven was, even in his agony, all beautiful before him in attractive 
glory. A friend who had c died to comfort him expressed in his prayer 
the wish that God would remove all doubts from his mind, and the clouds 
which separated between him and heaven. As he arose, Mr. Wilson 
said to him, "There are no clouds in my religion; doubts have been 
all banished from my rnind." " The time of my departure is at hand. 
I have fought a good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept 
the faith ; and I hnow there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me, 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day." At 
another time, one was telling him of death-bed scenes where he hoped 
he had been instrumental in bringing impenitent persons to death-bed 
repentance and joy. Said he, after listening for some time, u My 
brother, I had rather have a hope followed by a life of piety and walking 
with God, than all the conceivable paroxisms of joy flowing from death- 
bed repentance. Let the life be right, by a living experience, and the 
Good Shepherd will take care of the dark valley." 

During all his sickness, prayer, which had so long been his "vital 
breath" and u native air," was his sweetest luxury. I could seldom 
enter his room without his uttering his spontaneous expression, " Have 
a word of prayer with me !" He literally " entered heaven with 
prayer." Although his own future was bright, and nothing dubious 
lingering about it, he was not free from anxiety at times for the living. 
He talked freely and cheerfully of the exemplary and prayerful walk 
of the members generally of this church, and unbosomed himself com- 
pletely concerning the necessity of strict discipline with the mature 



45 



who are erring, and claimed that the purity of a church should be 
regarded as the measure of its strength. Aware of his own hopeful 
and forgiving spirit, he seemed to indulge a latent fear, that as a Ruling 
Elder he had inclined more to the side of. mercy to the erring than 
was well for the integrity of the Church of Christ. His views ex- 
pressed to me on this subject during his last sickness will shed much 
light on my future course. The testimony of such a man at such a 
time, looking back upon such a life of spiritual responsibility, and 
forward to such a heaven of purity, is valuable indeed. His feeling 
was that the Church of Christ should be spotless and without a just 
reproach. The unfaithfulness of Christians was a thorn in his dying 
pillow. Another trial was that he should be called to heaven without 
the intelligence that some in this congregation for whom he had long 
prayed had repented. This was even more painful than the thought 
of leaving his wife a widow and his children fatherless. God had 
promised to be the God of the widow, and of the fatherless a Father ; 
but from the necessity of His own nature and equity, which is enevit- 
able, He must be "a consuming fire" to those who continue "out of 
Christ." In these anxieties his bright visions of the future strengthened 
him. One time he exclaimed, in broken accents, "0, the imagery! — 
the bright imagery !" The night before he died, I asked him if the 
Saviour seemed precious to him, and if he could lean upon Him 
confidingly as ever. He replied, "0, yes; He does not forsake me!" 
and then added, with difficulty, "While I have been detained from 
the public sanctuary, I have had sweet communion here with Him 
and His people." I asked him how the future seemed — whether 
he could see any bright lights in the heavenly landing ? He said, 
" Yes, indeed ! God is my light ! My God is all light !" I then asked 
him if he had'any message for the brethren in the prayer-meeting, to 
which I was about to repair. He made great effort to speak, but at 
first articulated so indistinctly that I could not catch his words j but 
his closing sentence he uttered distinctly and with emphasis. Said he, 
"Tell them to think more of the realities of eternity !" These were 
the last words I heard him utter the night he died. The last word he 
spake audibly to any one was the name of his youngest son, as if to 
say, "Son, behold thy mother!" or to leave his parting blessing with 
the one whom he bequeathed to this infant church of God. 

See the dying man ! See him ! — already fording the river of death ! 
Speak to him ! — louder ! — he scarcely hears you ! Call for his last 
words. Hark ! — hear them, as they echo from the bright hills on the 
other side of death! — "My God is all light! Think more of 

THE REALITIES OF ETERNITY I" 



46 



" Our souls much farther than our eyes can see/' and in the pursuit 

of him, our spirits seem almost departed. He is now invisible — he is 
over — and these his last words come to us like the echo of his footsteps 
as he walks the golden streets and enters that upper temple ! Call him 
not back! Wish him not back ! nor 11 tarry long gazing up into hea- 
ven !" His death as well as his life is our teacher. 

III. What are the special lessons taught by his life and death ? 
Such a character, developed before you by such a life and crowned by 
such an end, stands up like a monumental shaft, inscribed all over with 
lessons of wisdom. 

1. He teaches that youthful extravagance is dangerous. He reached 
the verge of ruin himself, and came near passing it. 

2. He teaches the worth of family religion and its power to save 
the young ; its effects upon himself and afterwards upon his own family 
are illustrations. 

3. He teaches the worth of a good name ; not simply the untarnished 
name which he inherited from his ancestors, but that which he won by 
his integrity. To be a man of "good report" is better than to be a 
man of wealth without right. " A name truly good is the aroma from 
virtuous character; it is such a name as is remembered not only on 
earth but in heaven." Its possession is wealth of the most sacred 
value, and it were easier to recover from utter financial bankruptcy 
with five thousand customers after you to snatch each hard-earned dollar, 
than to extricate one's self from bankruptcy of name and reputation. Let 
the young man — let all be careful never to defraud confidence. If you 
do in any ease barter away your good name for any virtue, remember 
it is a jewel easier tarnished, lost, than brightened or restored. No 
person who has not this jewel — a good name — should ever be consid- 
ered eligible to the sacred offices which he filled. 

4. He teaches the importance of venerating usefulne'ss, and regarding 
as a sacred thing the reputation of those appointed to responsible offices 
among men, and especially in the Christian church. His lips were 
never opened to give utterance to slander, and any act intended to 
defame the virtuous and retard the usefulness of consecrated men was 
to him a dastardly and cruel act, which he felt must be rebuked of 
God. 

5. He taught the worth of simplicity of character. He was guileless 
and confiding, and that was noble. Happy is the man who is sure he 
can trust somebody; and happy is the youth who has yet learned to 
distrust nobody. The man is neither happy nor trustworthy whose 
mind is ever on the lookout for tokens of treachery among his peers, 



47 



and is most active to discover reasons for withholding confidence. 
Such a man will not be trusted — should not be. His chief study is to 
resolve the dark spots upon human nature, until he sees them first on 
every character, and thinks there is not one to trust, not even in Chris- 
tendom. He analyzes vice rather than virtue, treachery rather than 
truthfulness, till treachery is his chief companion. He sets, a sly 
embodiment of sagacity on his brow, laughs in his heart at the spotless 
simplicity of the unsophisticated youth and the virtuous unsuspecting 
man; but, unhappy, self-conceited, the eye of practised virtue is on 
him betimes, and reads him through and through, and pronounces him 
at once a miserable, self-complacent fraction of a man, bearing on his 
deathless soul Satan's image and superscription ! 

How different such a character from the guileless, unsuspecting, and 
yet, in a peculiar sense, discriminating Elder Wilson ? Himself above 
suspicion, he had nothing of the suspicious or deceptive in his nature. 
This does not imply that a man should reveal everything, having 
nothing to keep sacred. Transparency of character is not a mirror 
from which flash the faults and scandals of other men ; nor a lens 
through which the rapacious may gaze upon all the treasures of God's 
inmost temple. The Saviour, in whose lips there was no guile, escaped 
from the Jews incognitu when they sought to stone him, before his 
hour was come; and yet his character was the model of perfect sincerity 
and simplicity. He, as is every noble character, was frank, guileless, 
and confiding; and in these respects Mr. Wilson was unusually Christlike. 

6. He commends all the evangelical movements of the day to our 
sympathy and support. 

7. He suggests many things which are very important for Sabbath 
school teachers ; such as the dignity of their calling, the importance 
and power of faith, the necessity of prayer, punctuality, and a due 
sense of the worth of souls. 

8. He suggests many things to the officers of the church. We are 
reminded at once that he is no more of our number. He is now a "king 
and a priest unto God in the general assembly and church of the first 
born," and will no more return to aid us at the communion table, or to 
appear in Presbytery. He attended the last meeting of the Presbytery 
of the District of Columbia before his death in this house; and though 
at the time his energies were prostrated by disease, he represented, in 
his usual nervous and decided manner, the interests of this church and 
Sabbath school. He attended also the last meeting of the Synod of 
Virginia, sat on the same seat in a part of his journey with our deceased 
brother in the ministry, Rev. J, J. Royal. They were devoted to each 
other more tenderly than those who are merely kinsmen according to 



V6 



the flesh ; and the first sentence brother Royal ever addressed to me 
was concerning the power which Elder Wilson seemed to have with 
God during the revivals in the Fourth Church, in which he had been 
called to be the assisting minister, and Mr. Wilson one of those to stay 
up his hands by prayer and personal effort. Mr. Wilson appeared in 
Synod, nominated the moderator of Synod, faithfully and earnestly rep- 
resented the condition and claims of the church of which he was the 
Ruling Elder, and in his personal intercourse while there won greatly 
upon the affection of those with whom he associated. His course was 
venerated by his pastor, who watched every movement as that of a 
servant of God, who was ripe for heaven and might soon be gathered 
home. His life and character were ever before me, and full of instruc- 
tion. My brethren, in the official relations of the kingdom of Christ, 
his character, his life and death, are to us very suggestive; and because 
they are so instructive, we feel more keenly our loss. Mr. Wilson was 
a rare spiritual counsellor. He was almost a teaching and apostolic 
elder, and had many excellencies, to imitate which would be worthy of 
our emulation. Remember, too, my Christian friends, as he left us 
when we most needed him, so you may be called hence when your 
associates are least ready to spare you, and when you least anticipate 
your summons. 

9. He has a special lesson for this infant church. He will never sit 
before you — his brow, as it used often to be, all radiant with emotion 
as he drank in the word and became too full for composure. His 
vacant seat will suggest our loss, and will long remind us of his punc- 
tuality in the prayer-meeting, Sabbath school, and his faithful observ- 
ance of all the ordinances and privileges of the church. On whom 
his mantle shall fall as your spiritual rulers, we know not ; but of this 
we feel assured, that God is interested in this church, or he would 
scarcely have called so dear a servant to give to it the closing chapter 
of his life, topping the climax of his usefulness here, and making this 
church the group of gazing disciples from whom he is taken into 
heaven. He in example is still with us, and to every one he says, 
Be in your place and fill it." Be not afraid of dying in the house of 
worship.' 7 "I would as soon die in the sanctuary," said he, "as any- 
where." Follow him as he followed Christ; be as careful of evil 
speaking, of fault-finding as was he, and like him shun all appearance 
of evil, all the presumptions of indolence and indifference, and the 
God of peace stablish, strengthen, settle you, that men may know as 
well where always to find you. He speaks especially to parents, and 
says, "Be sure to come after me with your children I" 

10. He teaches the value of benevolent institutions, and the neces- 



i 



49 



si ty of looking after the morals of our city. He says, " Provide for 
the morally destitute !" u Remember the poor!" Much of his life 
was spent in efforts to elevate the degraded and alleviate the distressed. 
He loved to do good to the poor, for " God is their pay-master." He 
sympathized with the neglected, and even sacrificed his life for the 
destitute. His labors for them were well timed and wisely directed. 
No man without heavenly wisdom and thorough discipline in the school 
of adversity could have accomplished what he performed in this 
metropolis. He was, in the truest sense, a wise man, estimating things 
according to their true value, and seeking the best ends and the best 
means. Shall I be contradicted when I say David M. Wilson was 
chief among the benefactors of Washington ? However many and 
noble have been the defenders of the Capital of the United States, 
there has not arisen a better than he. Our city has been morally 
besieged, and the adversary's invading forces have threatened the pros- 
perity, peace, and purity of the city. 

" Now there was in the besieged city a poor wise man, and he by 
his wisdom delivered that city; yet no man remembered that same 
poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength ; nevertheless 
the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard." 
" Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth 
much good." (Eccl., 9, 15.) 

May the memory r of this benefactor of the Federal City be cherished 
throughout the land with more veneration and regard than is common 
to the lot of unassuming benefactors ! 

11. He left for all decided testimony to the realities of our existence. 
After his conversion his life was no fiction or dreary sentimentalism, 
or visionary, fluctuating effort to do everything and accomplish nothing. 
He was eminently a practical man. His piety and discipline — his life 
was practical : it was a reality : his death was to him a glorious reality, 
and his last words were, " Think of the realities of eternity." 

" Life is real — life is earnest, 

And the grave is not its goal ; 
Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

Was not spoken of the soul." 

12. And finally, my friends, what does he teach us concerning afflic- 
tion ? 

" His character was formed by a severe discipline." He was many 
times afflicted. He was called to follow in one week three of his children 
to the grave — to even close the eyes of one in death while the funeral 
services of another were in progress. Yet in all this he murmured not 



50 



against God, nor spoke unadvisedly with his lips. When one that was 
very dear to him was at the point of death, his hour for prayer arrived : 
he read the sacred word, and, as was his custom, commenced to sing a 
hymn. His aged mother interrupted him by the exclamation, "My 
dear son, how can you sing when your child is so soon to die V He 
replied, " Mother, I could sing praises to God if the world toere on 
fire!" 

His afflictions had taught his dependence on God, and given assurance 
in the divine promise ; he could, therefore, sing in his suffering, and 
praise God even in death : it had quickened his own exertions to do 
good, and taught him to exemplify the truth that personal effort is 
strictly compatible with divine sovereignty. Life should be active, and 
God should be trusted. Let no one repine in affliction with such an 
example, nor live in constant dread of death. If you be fit to die, you 
will not live too long nor die too soon. If not prepared, the Son of 
God commands " Be ye also ready." 

To the immediate relatives he suggests at once the way to bear 
bereavements. 

To his children, all of whom he led into the fold of Christ, and one 
of whom is already partaker of like precious office with himself, he 
says : "God is your Father ! that is enough. Trust and love Him; 
for the Lord shall be thy light, 1 and thy God thy glory/ " 

Be not ashamed nor prodigal of your patrimony. Yours is a legacy 
greater than that of the millionaire. Through such a father you are 
elevated to the company of God's princes, and shall indeed be " kings 
and priests unto God." 

Of the afflicted, heart-broken widow, who is unable to meet us here, 
what shall I say ? 

There was once an aged woman who was God's adopted child. She 
had been bereft of her only son, and she, moreover, was a widow. The 
weeds of mourning had been long about her. She had no child nor 
consort. She was indeed afflicted, and men hid, as it were, their faces 
from her. Her eyes were dim with age and tears; and soon the world 
was dark, for she was blind. Every dear object was banished from 
her sight j the earth had vanished, and the sky was gone ; beauty and 
brightness were invisible ; the sun rose and set without her knowledge, 
and perpetual night reigned, cold and starless, and the darkness of the 
grave surrounded her. Time seemed at an end, for succession of days 
was to her no longer. The next light that should burst upon her vision 
was that from the eternal world, and the next morning that of the 
resurrection. Her afflictions were unrivalled by any earthly sorrow, and 
she seemed indeed disconsolate. Who could bring consolation to such 



51 



a widow ? He alone who wept at the grave of Lazarus could do it. 
He had said to her, " I will not leave you comfortless !" As the 
stars go out in daytime, and are seen best when the sun and moon 
are withdrawn from us, so the lights of heaven shone more clearly 
to this aged widow for the darkness of her night of years, and the lights 
beyond the dark valley of the shadow of death were shining most dis- 
tinctly before her mental vision, and her God was her light in all her 
darkness, her support in all her sorrow, her companion in all her lone- 
liness; — and He was the God of that widowed, childless, sightless mother, 
till her mind had almost lost connexion with the outward world — till 
no human voice could wake her ; then, with the same word that shall 
wake the dead, He spake to her, and she, responsive, answered with 
her fluttering wings, and flew on angels' pinions to the very home of 
Deity, where God and the Lamb are the light thereof. If such be the 
comfort of one so near disconsolate, what shall I not send to the widow 
of our departed comrade ? Tell her, ye, her children, these words of 
the " Comforter:" "Cast thy burden on the Lord ! He shall sustain 
thee ! Behold, thy Maker is thy husband ; the Lord of Hosts is His 
name I" "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, 
saith the Lord thy Redeemer." 



52 



" MY GOD IS ALL LIGHT I" 



A correspondent of the Puritan Recorder has contributed to that paper the 
following beautiful stanzas on the dying words of Mr. David M. Wilson, of 
Washington : 

No shadow on the good man's brow, 

No darkness in his sight ; 
'Tis heaven begun on earth below ; 
Forever past each night of woe — 

Eternity is light. 

The silent stream had breadth nor depth, 

The foot ne'er touched its brink, 
But onward, upward, o'er the flood, 
The soul's eye fixed on Judah's God — 

There was no death to drink. 

The gates of pearl are folded back 

By Christ, in victory's hour, 
While yonder stands the wondrous harp, 
Waiting the blood-washed, faithful heart, 

To wake its mighty power. 

Earth gently passed from out of sight, 
Like morning dreams beyond the night, 

And not a billow dared to swell, 

When heavenward sped the soul to tell 
That God on earth is light. 

Methinks upon the mourner's heart 
There falls a breath from heaven, 
Filling all avenues of love, 
Lifting the tear-dimmed eye above, 
Beyond the cloud that's riven. 

"My God is light!" falls on the ear— 

And Lebanon is fair ; 
Had I a thousand lives to live, 
Oh ! that were small for me to give, 

The light of God to share. 

Time ! — time is but a dying breath ! 
Eternity ! — that has no death, 
But night and morning meet around 
The Throne eternal without sound, 
And never cloud or darkness rests 
Upon the mount of Zion's crest ; 
But glory beams forever bright, 
For God is light—" My God is light !" 

Mrs. H. E. S. Day. 



THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN ARE OUR TEACHERS, 



THE FUNERAL SERMON 



OF 



ELDER DAVID M. WILSON, 

THE USEFUL LAYMAN AND UNASSUMING BENEFACTOR OF WASHINGTON CITY; 



DELIVERED IN THE 

WESTERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

MARCH 9, 1856, 
BY THE PASTOR, REV. T. N. HASKELL ; 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED 

THE FUNEEAL ADDRESS, 

BY REV. B. SUNDERLAND, D. D., 

Delivered on the Burial Day, March 1, 1856. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

THOMAS McGILL, PRINTER. 
1856. 



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